T&B Children's Ministry's New Online Community

I have created a brand new place for the children's ministry to stay connected online. This site is our own private social network, allowing us to stay connected. Beyond the simple social aspects, it will allow us to do things like teacher training components, class projects, event planning and evaluations and instant communication about upcoming things and last minute changes.

As most of you know, social sites are the rage right now, so what makes this one any different? Really the only difference is it's focused mission for those involved in the Children's Ministry, including parents, teachers, volunteers, leaders and kids. Have you been reluctant to let your kids participate in sites like Facebook or Myspace? This site is a private site and all members must be members of the T&B church. All kids under 14 must have a parent also signed up to participate.

If you have spent any time on social sites, you can see quickly how out of control things can get. As Christians, we are to be transformed into the likeness of Christ...not conformed to the world. This site can be a great tool for parents to help their children live Christ honoring lives online as well as offline.

Be looking for more on this site in the weeks to come. If you're ready, click the link below and get signed up and help get this tool off the ground! Got a question? Shoot me an email or give me a call.

TBFamilyConnect

Thanks and God bless you in the New Year!
Greg

Merry Christmas

Christian Reviews of the Media Your Kids Want

I wanted to pass along a resource that's been around a while, but you may not know about. There is a website and a magazine called "Plugged In." This website will allow you to read Christian reviews on things your children's are watching, listening to and playing. I'm often suprised to find what some innocently looking media contains once you've checked it out. But who has time to listen and watch everything? Not me.

With Plugged In, you can search for the music, movies, tv shows, video games that your kids are asking you to buy for Christmas and see if it's something you want your child to have.

"Oh be careful little eyes what you see. Oh be careful little eyes what you see. For the Father up above is looking down in love. Oh be careful little eyes what you see."

Remember, it's our job to help children guard their hearts. You can check out the Plugged In website at www.pluggedinonline.com. You can subsribe to the Plugged In magazine online or pick up a copy at your local Christian bookstore.

Jelly Telly

There's something new for Christian Families on the web. Phil Vischer, the creators of Veggie Tales, has started a new venture of family friendly, Christ-honoring media. Jelly Telly is an daily, internet based program. Their goal is to bring the Bible into the daily lives of kids.

Jelly Telly uses puppets and animation along with videos from groups like God Rocks, and Kidmo to keep their content fresh.

Jelly Telly's content changes each day and on Sundays they show one full length video. Your daily Jelly Telly programming is about 20 minutes and you can go back and watch the last week's episodes, also. You can check out Jelly Telly at www.jellytelly.com. Right now, you can try it out free for a month. After that, it's $2.99 a month for a subscription. Parents, check out the GrownUps link and hear Phil talk about the reason their doing Jelly Telly (you can do this without signing up!).

This is another great resource for families as we strive to take God into the everyday lives of our kids.

Fun Fest is Coming!

This year's Fun Fest, T&B's annual Halloween carnival, is this Friday, October 31st. Everyone is welcome to have a fun time with games, candy, costumes and more. The party starts at 6:30 PM and runs until 8:00 PM.

Be sure to invite your friends and family members to join you. This is a free event for all kids up to the 6th Grade and their families. It's not to late to sign up to help. We have some booths still needing workers and we need help cleaning up afterwards. Contact Greg today to help (greg@tenthandbroad.org). and we'll see you Friday!

"In a Minute" devotionals

Have you checked out the T&B Children's Ministry's HisKids.net media player yet? NO? Why not? His Kids has been providing quality, Christian programming for kids for years. The Children's Ministry has partnered with their new internet based program to provide you with free, on demand kids programming. You can listen to your favorite kids radio programs, fun kids music and now, programming from T&B.

Our first local program is called, "In a Minute." This is a one minute devotional from Greg. Surely you can spare one minute. We have big dreams for our media player. You can pick up a HisKids.net CD from the Children's Ministry Office and download the player straight to your computer for click-able access or head over to the tnbkids website and click the media player link (http://hiskids.net/player/?show=159-1&aid=159).

Fun Fest 2008

October is here and Fall is coming! The temperature is cooling off and the leaves have begun to change and drop. I think Fall is by far my favorite time of year...or maybe I like winter and Fall is just the pre-season to winter. Anywho, October means Fun Fest. I'm not 100%, but I think this is probably the 10th or 11th year in a row that we have gathered up candy, decorated the FLC and invited friends, family and everyone else to come play.

Fun Fest is our annual Halloween carnival, our goal is to provide a alternative to trick or treating in a safe, Christian alternative. There are carnival games of all kinds, an old fashion cake walk, a lazer tag room, fun house, candy and more. Everyone is invited to dress up and have fun. The event itself is for kids up to the Sixth Grade and their families.

Fun Fest only works with a large T&B involvement. There are many ways your family can be involved this year. You can help set up the event on Thursday, Oct. 30th and/or help clean up following the event on Friday. You can donate candy or bake/buy a cake for the cake walk. You can run one of the many booths on Friday. Booth volunteers can sign up to work the whole hour and half or one of two 45 minute shifts.

What I love most about Fun Fest is seeing our entire church family serving together, from youth to our senior members. Please mark Friday, October 31st from 6:30 to 8:00 PM on your calendars and join us for Fun Fest 2008!

No Kid Zone this Sunday

There will be no Kid Zone this coming Sunday, but rest assured we will get back and running the following week. Greg will be out of pocket during the first five days of October, so if you have any questions, drop him an email at his @tenthandbroad address and he will get back to you a soon as possible.

Greg does need a sub for his boys class coming up on Oct. 1st, so if you can help and he hasn't contacted you yet, give him a call (I'd appreciate it!).

Sunday Night programs for September 28th

Sunday looks to be a fun, but busy day for our families. We have the 100 Year Service & special kids Bible class at MPEC followed by a meal and then a time of singing wrapping up around 3:00 PM.

Previously, we had posted that we would be having kids programs Sunday night. It now looks like we will be cancelling our programs. Most of our small groups with young children are not meeting, and most of our teachers are going to be out of pocket. Therefore, we will not be meeting this coming Sunday night for kids classes. This includes our K-3rd Grade kids and Preteen Cafe. Sorry if this has created some confusion.

Youth Mentors

This Sunday, all our 3rd-6th Graders that attended Bible Class were presented with a hand-made gift from their new youth mentors.

Allen Carr, out youth minister, paired each of his youth group members with one of our 3rd-6th graders for this school year. We are excited about building relationships between our youth and children as we all strive to better live for God.

You will be hearing more about how we will be helping our youth be a positive, Godly source in the lives of our kids. Don't forget, both kids and youth need Godly adults in their lives, also. Talk to Greg or Allen to see how you can get involved.

Finally, let me end by saying if your child is not involved in our Sunday morning Bible classes then why not make that a priority on Sundays this Fall. So much of what we do begins in our Bible classes and many of the opportunities are made through class or for kids who show up on our weekly rolls.

Greg

Upcoming Special Events

This Sunday will be our second Kid Zone of the new school year and if you missed last week, you sure don't want to miss this one! Kid Zone has adopted a type of Treasure Island theme with a fun ship and sailing crew along with pirates trying to steal the clues to the Lost Treasure Cave. You won't want to miss a single week!

Parents, remember that there will be no Preteen Cafe and no K-3rd grade program this Sunday night (Sept. 21) as everyone has been invited to Faith Village for the evening.

The following week is our 100 year celebration. We will have a special Bible class for kids 4 years to the 6th Grade. Younger kids will need to be accompanied by their parent. We could use some help checking kids in and out, and also monitoring kids during the class. If you'd like to help, please let Greg Stanford or Cary Richie know.

Can you believe it's almost October? Don't forget October means Fun Fest for the church and all our friends. Be planning to get involved this year however you can. Have a great weekend!

Greg

Here We Go!

Well, yesterday (Sunday) marked the start of Kid Zone and Preschool Station for another school year. Kid Zone was a crazy! The kids had a blast and all of the team worked hard and enjoyed ourselves too. If you haven't already heard, Kid Zone has moved on to an old sailing ship and taken to the high seas to find the Lost Treasure Cave and all it's riches. The Captain and his crew must solve the puzzles of the map while trying to avoid the evil Pirate Capatain and her crew. There is adventure around every corner as the crew navigate through Christ's teaching searching for the greatest treasure of all.

Last week we kicked off our third season of Divorce Care for Kids! I'm so pleased with this program and the way the Lord is healing kids suffering through the pains of divorce.

I'm excited to be a part of all the Lord is preparing for the Children's Ministry this year. I hope you will get on board and come with us!

Our next big event is going to be a special kids class for all 4 year olds through 6th graders at the 100 year celebration at MPEC. Join us in the theater for something special!

Greg

Back to School Bash

Have you been keeping up with the Olympics? I know many of you have. As school has kicked off for several, these late nights are probably getting harder and harder to do. So, don't miss out on the Olympic fun! This Friday, August 22, we will have a Back to School Bash for all K-6th Graders and their families.

Join us for some good eatin' and some fun playing! We'll start at 5:30PM and wrap up at 7:30PM. This is an Olympic themed event, so come dressed to play. Parents, we are asking that you stick around for the party. Wanna help? Give Greg a call.



Also, making it's debut at the Back to School Bash will be the brand new, totally awesome, TnbKids-HisKids.net media player. Now you can have direct access to the best Christian, children's music, programs and coming soon custom creations from the tnbkids radio team! Be sure to get your Media Player CD at friday's party. (Wanna sneak peak? Check out the media player

Looking for a Crew

Can you believe we're almost half way through August? Here's something to add to your busy, back to school schedule - It's a Back To School Party! On August 22, we will have a back to school bash for all our K-6th grade friends. We'll be inviting all of our new TAG friends we met this summer and anyone else we can drag along.

We're going with an Olympic theme - for obvious reasons, and I'll be looking for some help to put the thing together, so get with me if you have any fun ideas or just want to do some of the grunt work. :)

Also, we are currently recruiting for Kid Zone team members. We need adults and youth to make the Kid Zone ship sail this year. Check out our new sign up commercial!



Hope your week is going well! School's right around the corner. Don't forget our School Supply Drive that ends this Sunday. We've still got many apples, if you haven't taken some yet!

Greg

School Supply Drive Begins

We have kicked off a School Supply Drive this week, to benefit students of the Woodview Apartments. 52 students between preschool and high school are in need of help getting the required supplies for the start of the 2008-2009 school year. If you have seen a supply list, you will understand how difficult it can be for households on a limited budget to gather supplies for mulitple kids, or even one child for that matter.

Tenth & Broad has had several opportunities over the years to serve and minister to the residents of the Woodview Apartments. This year we will be collecting the supplies or donations, assembling the supplies for each student (Sunday, August 17) and then meeting families at the apartment complex for refreshments and to hand out supplies on the evening of Tuesday, August 19. We are working along with the apartment complex as we minister to their residents.

There is a School Supply bulletin board either in the FLC or the Atrium with hundreds of paper apples. Each apple lists specific items needed. The cost for each apple is generally between $3.00 and $5.00. Please help out however you can.

All supplies need to be at the church building by the morning of Sunday, August 17th. If you wish to help assemble supplies and/or help hand out the supplies, please contact me ASAP.

Greg

TAGged again

Well, today was a long, fun day at our third TAG for the summer. We saw more new kids come to hang out and play with us. I am so thankful for everyone who invites friends, family and even strangers to bring their kids to TAG. We really are enjoying the kids this summer. Next week will be a water day at TAG. If your child has a watergun and wants to bring it for a fun water war, be sure to add it to their TAG stuff to bring. We'll also have the water slide for kids to splash on.

TAG will finish up the first Thursday in August with school kicking off in the weeks following. We will be having a back to school bash and I want to invite every kids that comes to TAG to attend. That means I am going to be looking for help planning this fun event very soon for all of our T&B kids, TAG kids and everyong else we can invite. If you would like to add your input and brain power to this event, please get with me in the next week or two so I can start publicizing it at future TAGs. It's been a long time since we did a back to school party, so let's do it up right!

I hope your summer is going well. School is right around the corner, so don't let family opportunities slip by you. Speaking of school, we will be doing a school supply drive for the Woodview Apartments again this year. We will be getting lists near the end of July. If you can, grab a couple of extra supplies when you are buying your own kids supplies that would be great! They have already started running the "Back To School" sales. We will be taking supplies to the apartment complex and having a small party there with refreshments and meet the families and hand out the supplies. I'll give you more info when I can.

Thanks for staying up to date by reading this blog! You rock!
Greg

TAG: Week #2

This Thursday is our second TAG of the summer. This week is a water day, which means we'll be going outside after lunch, weather permitting, and getting wet. We'll do some water balloon games and end with our waterslide. Please send clothes that your child can get wet in. We have restrooms for them to change into before they get wet, or dry clothes to put on after they get wet. Please send a towel to dry with and sunscreen.

I am asking all parents to send their daugthers with a one piece bathing suit, or a tshirt to wear if they are wearing a two-piece suit. Please remember we are playing outside, not in a pool, across from a small, but occupied apartment complex. We want our young girls to be respected, even from a distance.

I pray your summer is going well!

Greg

First TAG of the Summer

Well, today was our first TAG of the Summer. TAG or Thursday Activities with Greg will meet each Thursday through July and the first Thursday of August. 31 kids and 10 volunteers rasied the roof in the FLC as we ran and played. The art room had a steady flow of artists while the game room was the site of huge cup sculptures and savage Lego wars (some of those boys never left the room...except to eat). We had a blast. If your child didn't make TAG #1, be sure to be here next week for Water Day! We'll break out the water slide and water balloons for some out door fun after lunch! Be sure to bring clothes to get wet in and something dry to wear afterwards. Girls, please were a one piece bathing suit, or a shirt to wear - remember, we're downtown, outside and not swimming in a pool. See you next week!

Thanks to Haley, Gabby, Jennifer, Charlie, Kaleb, Alissa, Tyler, Megan and Kayla for helping out this week!

Greg

July 4th Weekend

We had a great picnic/party last night to celebrate the 4th of July here at T&B. Wow, what a crowd. Remember,there will not be any activities at the building Sunday night - it's Internet Groups (Intergenerational Groups). Be sure you and your kids are a part of a group this summer.

TAG kicks off Thursday, July 10th at 9:00 AM. Sign ups for youth and adult volunteers are in the Atrium. Permission forms are available at the Children's Ministry Office or online at www.tnbkids.org.

Do you like contests? In the weeks ahead, I will begins some contests based on reader feedback from this blog. So check back often for updates, news, stories and be sure to leave a comment when you have something to say.

"Kid Quotes from Greg's Office."

"When you retire can I have your gecko?" asked Joel.
"I hope I'm around longer than that old lizard," said Greg

Have a fun, but safe 4th of July! See you Sunday.
Greg

4th of July Party

This Wednesday, July 2nd, T&B is having a fun July 4th party in the FLC. There will be a brief patriotic devo and food and fun. There will be no kids classes meeting. I hope you and your family make it to the fun!

Greg

Camp...now just memories

Well, our preteen camp session has come and gone and we are left with some fun memories, new friends and a better understanding of the apostles. T&B preteens joined other kids from around Texas and Oklahoma for a week at Quartz Mountain Christian Camp.

As I sit here and try to think of one or two little stories, my mind is filled with faces, laughter and so many memories that it seems impossible to find just one to share. I will say, in all the years, this has to have been one of the best group of campers we've had.

Camp can either be long and difficult, or smooth and quick. I'd have to say this one was over pretty quick. I enjoyed being around our preteen boys and girls in a different setting then here at church. Camp just lends it's self to getting to know each other in a more relaxed atomosphere.

This year, like the past two or three, I've co-directed camp with Steven Yeakley, minister at the Faith Village CofC. I can't say enough how great a job Steven does with camp, and along with the adults and youth from FV and here at T&B, we have a great camp staff, year after year. This year, Sherry Franklin and Jim Kizer joined us for the week and did a fantastic job.

Well, camp is over and next week starts TAG. Be sure to build Thursdays into your child's summer schedule and join us here for more fun than you can shake a stick at!

TAG Dates Set

June officially brings summer to the Children's Ministry here at Tenth & Broad, and summer means TAG. TAG or Thursday Activities with Greg is our summer play day for kids entering K-6th Grades.

TAG began between nine and eleven years ago as I looked to do something with kids here at T&B in the summer. I guess if I had thought it would stick around for so long, I might have thought out the name a little better, but TAG has been fun and we are excited to see what the Lord does this year.

TAG will begin the second Thursday in July. The dates are July 10, 17, 24, 31 and August 7. We begin at 9:00 AM and kids are to be picked up by 2:00 PM. All kids need a lunch or lunch plan. We eat lunch at 11:30 AM. Kids play hard at TAG and need a good lunch. Kids will not be allowed to stay without a lunch or lunch plans. All kids will need a signed, parental permission slip. You can pick up a permission slip at the TAG sign in table on Thursdays, or download one from the website, just look at the "download" section on the front page.

We will be doing some special things on certain TAG dates, like water games, and talent shows. We will soon be presenting what and when these special activities are. It will be listed on our website, www.tnbkids.org and I'm sure it will make it here on the blog.

TAG is a great place for kids to play. They are going to make new friends - we have kids from all over the area participate at TAG. They will learn how to play and cooperate with each other in team and individual activities. Kids love to hang out in the art room with Ms. Bonnie and let their imaginations run wild as they draw, sew and build craft projects.

One of the things that we decided long ago, something that makes TAG different, is that kids chose what they do. We don't force kids to play certain activities. Some kids love to spend their time shooting baskets with one or two people. Other kids spend most of their time in the artroom making some pretty incredible creations. Others love large, active group games. We do it all, but everyone has the freedom to play what they want, and for as long as they want.

TAG has always had two major rules. These rules are repeated each week. 1) You must have fun! 2) Don't get hurt. We want TAG to be a fun, safe place for kids in the summer and we will work hard to make it that way.

So, as I wrap up this entry, be sure to include TAG dates in your child's summer schedule. Also, we always need T&B adults and youth volunteers. Look for TAG volunteer needs on the website or in the Atrium at T&B.

Greg

Something New for the Children's Ministry

This is the beginning of yet another way the Children's Ministry will try to stay connected to families of the Tenth & Broad Church and our friends in and around Wichita Falls.

This blog will serve several funtions throughout the year. I will try to keep it updated on things that are up and coming. I will try to post follow up after events and activities, so if you missed it you can see/hear what happened or if you were there and want to add your two-cents by commenting (good stuff, please). I'll also be adding ways for families to continue at home what kids began at church with activities, devotional ideas and resources.

Anywho...that's what we'll be attempting through our TnbKids blog. Hope you will stop by and see what's up from time to time.