Upcoming Events...Happy New Year

Looking forward to another wonderful year of being able to share the truth of the grace and love of our Savior with your children!

Upcoming Events : Click on Links for Details

Wednesday Nights : Begin January, 14 : Click here for details

1st-3rd Grade Bowling : January 19 : Details to come

4th-6th Grade Lock-In's : January 23 (Girls) & February 20 (Boys) : Click here to RSVP & for details

New Sunday School Teachers : Click here for a list of teachers, please be praying for them!

Parenting Resources : Devotions & Tools

Top 150 : A weekly devotional for families to do throughout the year : Click here

**NEW** Parenting in the Proverbs : A series that provides wisdom from the Proverbs on parenting as well Catechism questions & answers for kids : Click here

Summer Dates : Registration will be coming soon!

VBS : Rising 4k-4th Grade : June 15-18 : 9am- Noon

Bonus Days : Rising 5th & 6th Graders : June 22-26

Built for a Purpose : Rising 2nd - 6th Grades : June 29-July 2 : 5-8 pm

Created for a Purpose : June 22-26 : July 13-17 : July 20-24

Game On: One Goal, One Prize : Rising 1st - 4th Grade : July 6-10 : July 27-31

Announcements...

Just a couple of items to keep you in the loop....

1. The last KidzClubs & Music Clubs of the semester are tonight, Wednesday, April 24 starting at 6:00. What a great time we have had loving, playing, singing, and studying the Bible with your children. Thank you for sharing your children with us!!

2. Summer Event Registration is available by clicking here.  (VBS, Bonus Days, & Game-On) Print and complete registration forms and return to church at any of the Children's Ministry welcome desk or mail to 65 Old Montgomery Highway Homewood, AL 35209 ATTN: Children's Ministry.

3. VOLUNTEER: We have lots of great opportunities to serve in the Children's Ministry! You will discover it can be such a joy to serve alongside other families...and I can't think of anything better than seeing a child's eyes opened to the Gospel. 

VBS Volunteer - Click here to sign up!

Pre-School Ministry Summer Volunteer- Click here to sign up!

4.  The weekly devotional Top 150 Bible Stories week 16 is available. Click here. 

Be on the lookout for a post about our Koala Kids & Outback Summer Sunday School plans!

We love serving you and your family....we delight in the opportunity to share Christ with your children!

Summer Event Registration Forms

Summer registration forms are now available on the CovPres web page as well as by clicking the links below.

We are excited about the opportunity to love your children by sharing the Gospel with them this summer! What joy to be planning and praying for the children that will participate in the below events!

VBS for rising 4k-4th grade

Bonus Days for rising 5th & 6th graders

Game On for rising 1st - 4th graders. Limited space available.

Day School Summer Camp for completed 2k-5k

MDO Summer Camps for infant through 2 years old

Don't forget about Mr. Dan's weekly devotionals coming from his favorite 150 Bible Stories. Each week he has great devotionals for you and your family to enjoy together!

Click here for Top 150 Bible Stories Devotionals

Also please encourage your friends to subscribe to the CovPres Children's Ministry Blog...it is a great way to stay informed about upcoming opportunities!

Top 150 Bible Stories

Week 13 is available for the Top 150 Bible Story weekly devotionals! Click here!

We have a few more weeks left of KidzClub & Music Club, so please jump in and join us! We will meet until April 24. We start at 6:00 p.m. and end at 7:15 p.m.

Be on the lookout for a post with registration forms for our summer camps & VBS!!

WE CANNOT WAIT TO MINISTER TO YOUR CHILD THIS SUMMER! It is our delight to share God's Word and Love with them each week!

Thanks for sharing your children with us!!

Holy Week & Top 150 Bible Stories

We hope you and your family enjoyed Spring Break or perhaps you are on Spring Break this week!

We hope you were able to slow down, enjoy time with your family, and find time to reflect on our Savior and the Cross!

Opportunities during Holy Week to celebrate the risen Lord include:

Maundy Thursday Service will start with dinner at 5:45 p.m. and the service will begin at 7:00 p.m. Nursery care will be available as well as activities for 3k-5k.

Good Friday Noon Service will take place at noon and nursery care will be available.

Sunday Worship will begin with a sunrise service at 6:15 a.m. at Vulcan Park then a pancake breakfast will follow at 7:00 a.m. at Covenant. There will be 8:00 a.m. Worship, followed by Sunday School, and then 10:45 a.m. Worship.

We hope you will be able to join us a we gather to worship our Savior!


Two weeks worth of Top 150 Bible Stories; please click on the links below!
Week 11
Week 12

Summer Day Camps & Top 150 Bible Stories

The Day School, Mother's Day Out, and Nursery ministries will be offering a variety of fun filled summer days for your children infants through completed 5k.

CDS's Cruise Liner through God's Creation & MDO's Summer Fun Camp will be offered the following dates:
July 8 & 10
July 15 & 17
July 22 & 24
July 29 & 31
August 5 & 7
Camps are from 9:00 - 1:00 p.m. and pre-registration is required.
CLICK HERE FOR REGISTRATION INFO

Nursery Play Days will be scheduled throughout May, June, July, & August! Be on the look-out for more details.

NEW this summer "Treasure Time"... Tuesdays July 9, 16, 23, 30 & August 6 from 10:00 - 11:00 in C316. If you have enjoyed Story Time at any of our local libraries, you will love this opportunity to hide God's word in your child's heart as well as yours! All ages are invited! No Cost! Click here for more info!

Click here to read Week 10 of Top 150 Bible Stories.

Summer Dates & Week 9 of Top 150 Bible Stories

Summer Events...Save-the-Date!

We hope you will mark your calendars and plan on your children participating in the following events!

VBS - Wild Wild West - June 10-14 - Rising 4k - 4th Graders 

Bonus Days - June 24-28 - Rising 5th & 6th Graders

Game - On - Session 1 July 22-26 & Session 2 July 29 - August 2 - Rising 1st - 4th Graders

Online registration for these fun events will begin in April!

We always need volunteers to make these events smooth...God has given each of us gifts and talents that we can use to share the Gospel with children and families. I love in Acts where it says that Paul not only shared the Gospel, but his life...what a joy to share our lives with each other!

If you are interested in getting to know other families in our church as well as share the love of Christ with children, please contact Laura Tucker at ltucker@covpres.com or 871-7002...she will help you get plugged into an area of service. 

Click here: Week 9 of Top 150 Bible Stories is available. 

The HoneyWord Bible...There is an App for That!

You may already know, but the HoneyWord Bible now has an app! Look for it in the App Store...It has daily devotionals and daily readings for kiddos...and adults too!

Missions & Top 150 Bible Stories

Missions 2013

Thank you so much to the VOLUNTEERS who helped make KIDMission 2013 a success...As always we are so grateful to all the awesome parents, grandparents & teen helpers that make our ministry go round! What a blessing to see families loving each other by sharing the love of Christ with their children!

During KIDMission, we hope your children learned about the love God has for children around the world and in particular Ukraine. It was fun to see our kids learn that each child has a story! The children also had the opportunity to hear from visiting missionaries! What a great experience for our kids' eyes to be opened to a global perspective of God's Kingdom!

Thank you as always for allowing your children to participate on Sunday mornings, Wednesday nights, and special events! We consider it a joy to serve you and your families!

Top 150 Bible Stories

Just a reminder each week Mr. Dan is providing a weekly Bible reading plan for your family based on his 150 favorite Bible Stories. If you haven't been reading along and are looking for a way to incorporate Bible study into your family life, this may be a good fit. Check it out by clicking here.
Week 5
Week 6

Week 1 of Top 150 Bible Stories

Week 1 January 6

Top 150 Bible Stories

God Creates All Things

Read: Genesis 1:1-25

You might not know that a long time ago there was absolutely nothing in the world!  Of course there was God, but there was nothing else.  We learn in this story that God is the Almighty Creator (v.1).  All things come from Him.  God created all things (out of nothing) to reveal His mighty power.  God created all things good, and He did so for His own glory (vv.4,10,12,18,21,25) so all things are worthy of saving.  It is a return to His good creation that God always works (sin had messed up things).  We know how our sin is not good in His sight.  We know that the creature should always worship the creator.  God is the creator and we (God’s creation) must worship Him. Remember that God is a spirit (v.2), and that it is our pleasure to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Creation of Man

Read: Genesis 2:1-25

Everybody knows that all people are babies at first…then they become children…then they grow-up to be adults.  But how did that work in the very, very beginning?  This story tells us in the very beginning, that even man and woman were created by God.  God the Creator, made mankind in His own image (Gen 1:27).  Did you notice how God made man and woman to be with each other (v.18)?  So we know that God cherishes family and marriage; and wants the family to be the normal place (v.24) where you are to learn about Him. This passage tells us that human beings are God’s most important creation…such that He gave mankind the responsibility to oversee all of creation (v.19).  God tells us that we are so important that He works throughout all of time to save us from sin’s guilt and penalty.  We know that we should gladly honor Him in all that we do in order that His image might be reflected in us.   Remember to glorify God in all that you do. 

Word is a Lamp

Read: Psalm 119:105-120

Most of us don’t like it when it’s totally dark!  Why?  Because we can’t see anything!  We might even trip (and fall) because we can’t even see the huge hole in front of us.  We learn in this Psalm that God’s Word is a lamp to our feet (v.105).  That means the Bible, God’s Word, is our guide to life.  So God is looking out for us to keep up from tripping-up.  He protects us, too.  God is our hiding place and our shield (v.114).  He gives life and saves us from our troubles (v.107) and keeps us from those who may do evil to us (v.115).  So remember we are to follow His commandments (God’s Word), for the commandments are good for us, we must learn to walk in His ways. 

Top 150 Bible Stories - Weekly Reading

Top 150 Bible Stories

To Parents:

G.K. Chesterton, an English writer and defender of the Christian faith once wrote, “I had always felt life first as a story; and if there is a story there is a storyteller.”

Kids love stories!  If there is one thing that I have learned in my years of working with children, it is that kids love stories.  And I know why!  It is because God gave stories to us.  God Himself is the Master Storyteller.  He created life as a story and has preserved these individual life stories for us in the sacred Scriptures. 

Real life is full of stories that pose specific problems that, in turn, create personal, emotional and spiritual tension that need resolution.  Bible stories, in particular, tell us about the history of the problem of sin; the tension it causes in personal lives; and how God is always working toward a resolution.  That resolution comes in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of His Son—the story of the life of Jesus Christ. 

Kids love Bible stories!  They need to know them.  As they read, they learn at least three things.  First, they learn who God is.  They need to know the Storyteller.  Second, they learn that God is active in history as He works to redeem His people.  And third, they learn what God requires of them, in other words, how to think and act.  Bible stories are essential to the education of the next Christian generation.

So I have compiled my top 150 (actually 156) of them and set them in a format that can be used for their reading in one year.  If your family reads three stories per week, you can accomplish this important task. 

On this blog, the stories will be posted each week along with a short devotion to highlight the three categories of learning suggested above.  I have underlined my suggestions to highlight them and to make them simple to see. 

I pray that your family’s time in these stories will be blessed by God.  

Dan Edwards (Mr. Dan)

Pastor to Children & Families 

Tis' the Season...Advent Ideas

Tis' the Season to Celebrate! We celebrate the birth of our Savior! We celebrate the Gospel!
We celebrate with friends and family with the exchanging of gifts with the enjoyment of fellowship!

The Children's Ministry team is so very thankful for the opportunity to spend time with your children celebrating the birth of the Savior. What a special time to teach our children about the love of Jesus Christ!

Here are a couple of ideas for making the Advent season not only special, but a time to draw near to the manger.

Using the Jesus Storybook Bible as an Advent devotional for you and your children. This link provides a list of stories that have paragraphs that specifically talk about the expected birth of Jesus. As you read each story you will get closer and closer to the birth of Jesus! Click here to check it out!

Ann Voskamp uses a daily devotional with coordinating ornaments to build a Jesse Tree. Each day you read the devotional and then you hang one of the provided ornaments on your tree. Click here to check it out!

Noel Piper has a story for the 25 days leading up to Christmas that allows children to build the stable scene until finally adding Jesus. Each day you read the story building on the day before and each day you add another animal/person etc... Click here to check it out! (Scroll down to get the all the info).

Our pre-school ministry is building a tree out of ornaments that have the names of Jesus on them. They will talk about the names of Jesus and write them on ornaments. Then place the ornaments on a cupcake stand creating a tree....Ask your children at Sunday lunch about the names of Jesus!

At home you could also do this for the 25 days leading up to Christmas. Or you could make ornaments with your kiddos and write the names of Jesus on them. (There are lots of cute ideas out there on Pinterest). Then each day you could read from the Jesus Storybook Bible and let the kiddos hang one of the Christmas ornaments they made on the tree.

The possibilities are endless...our hope is that as family you will draw near to the Savior!

Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing by Sally Lloyd Jones

Sally Lloyd Jones has a new book out called Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing. Here is a little video from her website that gives you a glimpse into the book.

Dr. Timothy Keller says, "Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing may be the best, first introduction for children to have their own time with God." You can read more about the book and Sally Lloyd Jones by clicking here. 

Here is a description of the book from Amazon.com:
From Jago and Sally Lloyd-Jones, the creators of the bestselling Jesus Storybook Bible, comes this gorgeous and innovative collection of 101 simple-yet- profound thoughts on faith. Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing shares profound spiritual truths from the Bible told in a conversational tone---drawing insights from creation, history, science, the writings of great thinkers and preachers and writers, and more---to turn the reader's eyes toward the God who loves them with a Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love. Perfect for family devotions, bedtime, story time, or even as a companion to The Jesus Storybook Bible, this accessible yet theologically rich book reveals biblical truth in word and image-all working together and designed to do one thing: to make the reader's heart sing.

Welcome

We are so glad you are taking the time to check-out the Covenant Presbyterian Children's Ministry blog. We hope it will be a great resource to you and your family. Check back often for up-to-date information regarding the children's ministry.