City Impact-Bible Club

Special Moments

2010-08-13T12:02:00.001-07:00

It just so happened that the last time the 5th graders met for Bible Club there were no 5th grade girls, but there were 2 student volunteers, Cecily and Amber who are both 8th graders at the Impact Leadership Academy. When it came time for the Bible Lesson and talk sheets, Mr. C took the two 5th grade boys into the room next door and the student volunteers stayed in the classroom with Mrs. Renee. Let me tell you, I was thinking to myself, “Oh great! Another lost opportunity for a story!” With much hesitation, I decided to stick around. I was not sure what the girls were going to do, until I saw Mrs. Renee hand each one a talk sheet and a Bible. I really appreciated Mrs. Renee’s fervor and “go get it” attitude. There was never a question as to whether or not they would be going over the 5th grade lesson; frankly I thought they would just talk about miscellaneous topics not related to the Bible Lesson. I am so glad I stuck around because the conversation produced from the lesson was wonderful. They read together verses out of different books of the Bible on the topic, restraining yourself, to be more specific. They talked about things like gossiping and holding your tongue. Each one talked about a situation they had run into in the past week where they did not restrain themselves. Then they talked about how next time they could do better. One of the verses towards the end of the lesson about the tongue prompted the two girls to be very open about their own personal lives. They shared with Mrs. Renee about their fears of going to High School in the fall and about some things in their home life. Talking about these things led Mrs. Renee to ask the girls if she could pray with them and the issues they are facing in life right now. What a sweet moment I was able to witness, and I know Mrs. Renee will not forget the time she shared with these two very special girls. It was wonderful to see God working and I am so thankful that something in me was telling me to stay in the classroom that night, boy what an opportunity for a story I would have missed if I would have left!

Encouraging others...

2010-08-06T12:44:00.001-07:00

I have yet to find a person who does not like it when someone else encourages them.
God places people in our lives to encourage us, and I am so thankful He has done so.
Before learning about the Bible Lesson for the evening Mrs. Jeanine (Pre-K Classroom
Teacher) asked all the little students to go around the table and tell the person to
their right something they liked about them. Libby told Alejandra that she liked her
brown eyes because they were like her dads. Alejandra told Maliah that she liked her
star earrings, and Maliah told Jamiah that she really liked her dress. They continued
around the table and when they had finished Mrs. Jeanine asked them if it felt good
to tell some one else something they liked about them. All of them agreed that it did
feel good. Encouragement is what the Pre-K students were learning about. They were
learning about the story of Saul and Barnabus. They learned about how Saul was not
a very nice man and not many people liked him, but God placed a friend in his life
named Barnabus to encourage Saul. Barnabus believed in Saul, he believed that Saul
could be a better person and he also knew that God had the power to change Saul.
Barnabus told everyone that Saul was a good man and God did change Saul! Barnabus
encouraged Saul and he helped him encourage others.

Gifts from God

2010-07-16T11:12:00.000-07:00

Join me as I hear from a few first grade students after they visited the GFG (Gifts from God) store, where they spent their hard earned GFG bucks (money they earn for completing devotionals and from coming to Bible Club) and tell us what they bought.

Damien- “Beach towels for the pool, and a game to play with my sister.”

Grace- “Bat and baseball for my sister cause she loves baseball, baby rattle for my mom, a hat for my dad and perfume for my grandma.”

Eli- “Tennis balls, cause I play tennis.”

Olivia- “Football for my dad, clips for my mom, a notebook for my aunt, clothes for my baby cousin and for my baby niece and a baseball for my brother CJ.”

Each time I witness the 1st graders shop I am always blown away when they tell me what they bought mostly because over half of the things they purchase are for other people! It takes me back to thinking about a goal that City Impact has, take a look at the last line because I think it goes right along with what these little 1st graders are doing.

Servant Leadership & Strengths Development
-Children will know and understand their personal strengths.
-Children will explore and use their strengths in a variety of contexts.
-Students will actively demonstrate love and kindness through words and actions.

Bible Sandwich

2010-07-13T13:50:00.001-07:00

I fear I have not told you much about the wonderful worship coordinator City Impact has for Bible Club! Well to get you caught up a bit, her name is Miss Bethany and she is a student at the University of Nebraska—Lincoln. We have been so blessed to have her part of the Tuesday night team. Mrs. Bethany is very kind, sweet and so gentle with the students. As I mention sweet to you, it reminds me of a little story I wanted to share with you all about worship the other night.

Mrs. Bethany has such a fun way of introducing and explaining topics to the young students of Bible Club. A few Tuesdays ago the students were learning about getting our answers from the Bible and during worship Mrs. Bethany decided to play off of this a bit. She had a table up at the front of the fellowship hall. On the table was a bag and in the bag were different food items. Miss Bethany began talking to the students about things we receive from Gods word; she was talking specifically about the whole Bible in general. She proceeded to hold two pieces of bread up, which were to be the cover of the Bible. She went on to pull out of the bag things like a can of frosting, which she named Hope and then spread the frosting onto the bread. Then she sprinkled on top of the frosting some sprinkles, which she called comfort. After the Bible sandwich was completed, Mrs. Bethany called for two volunteers to try it. Two students eagerly tried the sandwich and when asked how it tasted they both agreed that it was very sweet and probably the best sandwich they ever had! Mrs. Bethany went on to explain that God’s word gives us all we need. It is so sweet; it is not bitter nor is it sour.

Not only was I tickled to watch the students eyes as they watched the Bible sandwich being assembled, I was pleased with the analogy Mrs. Bethany used to make God’s word come alive in a way the students could relate to. What person doesn’t want to think of the Bible to be as sweet as sugar!

Meet Mrs. Renee

2010-06-28T12:12:00.001-07:00

I currently live in Lincoln, NE. I am from a large family of nine kids. I am married and have two children. My favorite color is hunter green and I love any kind of Mexican food. In my free time I enjoy reading, (I have a major book collection from all different authors), knitting, sewing and cooking. I got connected to City Impact through Gifts of Love, I volunteered for this event and then started at the Ministry. What led me to this was I was volunteering at the Friendship Home as a child and adult advocate. I saw a lot of hurting children there who needed to know about Jesus, but we were not allowed to talk about this with them. I wanted to go somewhere where I could help plant the seed of Jesus in young hearts. I have lots of favorite memories; one was having girls over for pizza and jewelry making. I also love when ever I hear a child quote scripture. I have been with City Impact for over 10 years and currently I am a small group leader in the 5th grade classroom.

2010-06-23T18:31:00.001-07:00

Goal: Servant Leadership & Strengths Development

-Children will know and understand their personal strengths.
-Children will explore and use their strengths in a variety of contexts.
-Students will actively demonstrate love and kindness through words and
actions.

Teaching students to use their individual strengths has been something that the volunteers and staff here at Bible Club encourage weekly. Not to mention Mrs. Anna (Youth Development Director) has been working with each classroom teaching them how to recognize their individual strengths that God has given them.

As I sat in with the 1st grade classroom last week, I was pleased to notice Zahria using a character strength of hers. If you know Zahria, you would know that she is one little ball of fire! She is always dancing, singing, and talking to anyone and everyone. Zahria is usually in tune to what others need, and often times I find her helping. If I remember correctly the character which best represents Zahria is the Lion, which makes sense especially in the situation I witnessed in the 1st grade classroom. The students were working with Miss Jocelyn (Youth Bible Club Volunteer) to find verses in 1st Peter. Let me tell you, it is so cute to watch all the little ones open up a Bible to search for books and verses. Zahria noticed that Javier was having a bit of trouble finding the book Peter. She took charge like a Lion, but ever so gently said, “You need some help? Its back in the back.” She then proceeded to help him thumb through the pages until they came to Peter. Javier did not mind one bit that Zahria knew where the book Peter was and he didn’t. In fact, he was the first one to offer to read the verses out loud.

I learned quite a bit about humility while visiting the 1st grade classroom, and I really want to use it more in my own faith because I know God calls us to be like children in this way.

Great Bible Challenge

2010-06-21T12:27:00.001-07:00

Goal: Spiritual Development

-Youth will come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.
-Youth will develop into mature followers of Jesus Christ.

The lesson throughout Bible Club on Tuesday night was, “The Bible is an Answer to All My Questions.” This particular night, the 5th graders had a challenge to work through. Boy was it fun to see the students interacting with the leaders to complete this challenge!

Numbers were a bit low in the 5th grade classroom, but it turned out to be a good thing because each volunteer was able to take one student and work out the challenge one on one. I wish I could tell you how every one on one interaction went, but I was not able to be in all the groups at once! Each of the groups spread out so they were able to work on the challenge intently and with little distractions. I decided to sit with Vadoll (youth volunteer) and Kaprice (5th grade student). I was tickled pink to witness their interaction and not to mention it was so awesome to see them diving into God’s word together. Vadoll has a very kind spirit and it was so fun to watch that emerge while working with Kaprice. In the activity, the students were asked to read a list of verses and then match the verse to a phrase that best described that verse. They sat close together on a couch as Vadoll read aloud the verses and Kaprice intently listened. He seemed to be soaking up every word and it was so easy for the two of them to come up with the answers. For example, after reading the passage in Proverbs 15:4, they came to the conclusion that the word/phrase to match it with was respectful words. Vadoll was so good at helping Kaprice understand the verses! He would even take the verse they just read and try, in his own words, to explain it in a way Kaprice would understand it. Vadoll and Kaprice interacted so well and it was awesome to see them working side by side in God’s word.

Here at City Impact the vision is, “Transforming Families and Neighborhoods from the Inside Out by Equipping People with the Good News of God's Love.” Tonight the activity led Vadoll and Kaprice to be better “equipped” in their knowledge of the “Good News of God’s Love.” I enjoyed every minute of being with them in class.

2010-06-17T06:50:00.000-07:00

For some time now Mrs. Anna (Youth Development Director) has been working with the students at Bible Club on finding their character strengths. On Tuesday, it was Mrs. Anna’s first trip to the 4th grade classroom. For the next 8 weeks Mrs. Anna will be working with the 4th graders to become familiar with a new way of journaling.

Mrs. Anna began by explaining to the 4th graders that she would be joining them for the next 8 weeks to teach/show them how to find what strengths God has given each individual person. After the explanation of why she was there, she told the class that they would be doing something fun for the first night; they were going to be making a very yummy snack!

The students were grouped into groups of 3, and then she told two of each three that they would be working together, and they were not to talk to the other person in their group. Then the two students in each group were given a bag containing the contents of part of the yummy snack they were making. The one person in their group was given a bowl with some other contents in it. Mrs. Anna then told each group to make their snack. You should have seen the look on their faces when they began to figure out that they didn’t even know how or what they were supposed to be making. After a few minutes of confusion Mrs. Anna said to the students, “Didn’t you get a recipe?” Then they all figured out that the one person who had been left to work on their own was the keeper of the recipe! They were then told to work together to make the recipe.

After they were done making their snack, Mrs. Anna asked them what it was like to try and make the snack on their own. Amara answered, “It was confusing because we didn’t know what to do.” This led Mrs. Anna right into talking about the new way of journaling. She explained that God made each and every person unique and each one of us has a gift or talent. She used the snack mix items as an analogy by saying that some of us may be a marshmallow and some of us may be an M&M, but we are not all chex mix. She explained that in the Bible the apostle Paul talks about the parts of the body and how each one is unique and different, but not one thing works separate without the others. Just as the body parts work together, so should the people who make up God’s kingdom here on earth. Mrs. Anna talked about how God did not give us our gifts just for ourselves, but He made us so we can use them for others. After that was said, Mrs. Anna told each group to pick a class to deliver their yummy snack to as a way of sharing their “talents” with others!

2010-06-10T08:47:00.000-07:00

Kaylan pictured on the left

On Tuesday evening Mrs. Michelle (3rd grade classroom leader) asked the students to write about a situation which happened in the past week at home and which character (golden retriever, otter, beaver, lion) it brought out in them. When they were finished Mrs. Michelle asked for any volunteers to come before class and share their journal. Kaylan willingly jumped at the opportunity and here is what she shared.

“I helped my baby brother because he fell down the stairs head first and got hurt, but now he is ok.”

She was then asked what character it brought out in her and she said golden retriever.

Bible Club Volunteers Care

2010-06-07T15:43:00.000-07:00

Goal: Volunteer Care
-Volunteers will be well trained and committed to the City Impact Mission.
-Volunteers will feel like a valued member of the CI Ministry Team.

From: Miss Lindsay (small group leader, 3rd grade)
To: Ian

“It is so nice to see you again! Come back! Happy summer”

From: Mercedez (small group leader, 3rd grade)
To: Zodell

“I see so much improvement in you. You haven’t been to reroute in a while, good job!”

From: Britton
To: Taylor

“Taylor, I really enjoy it when you volunteer to pray! God loves you!”

From: Miss Margaret
To: Channele

“You are so sweet! And I love it when you come here! It makes me happy to see you!”

Personal Responsibility in the 5th grade room

2010-06-03T06:11:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago before worship Mrs. Wanda (5th grade teacher) came to me very excited and wanted to tell me two things which she thought were “blog worthy” and boy was I excited!

Mrs. Wanda explained that during class one of the girls spoke up and told everyone that in the past week she had lied and she was asking if it was ok. The reason she had lied was to get into a party at the Light House. You had to be in the 6th grade to get in, so she lied and said she was. Mrs. Wanda was very excited because this brought about an opportunity to teach about being honest and how important it is to God to be honest. After the talk she was not ready to ask God to forgive her because she still did not think what she had done was really wrong. Later on the class was praying their inward prayers and when it got around to this particular 5th grade student she spoke out loud and asked God to forgive her for lying to get into the Light House party.

Not only was Mrs. Wanda excited to tell me about her student’s realization, she also said that this student does not usually pray out loud in front of the class. With all that said, it was the 5th grade girls turn to serve the food and so Mrs. Wanda asked if she could have a girl volunteer to pray for the food and with no hesitation the same girl who had spoke up earlier raised her hand and volunteered to pray out loud.

It was so fun to hear Mrs. Wanda’s excitement when she was telling me what had happened in class that night.

Milandra a 5th grade Bible Club student

2010-03-26T11:37:00.001-07:00

What is one thing God helped me do lately, that I didn’t have to do, which showed kindness or sacrificial love to others?

“I moved into a new house and I didn’t want to share a room but I did even though I didn’t want to and I didn’t even throw a fit about it.”

Meet Mr. C

2010-03-24T12:22:00.000-07:00

I grew up in northern Illinois with 4 older brothers. (5 boys, no girls!) From grade school through college, my Dad and his brother owned a dairy farm, so while we lived in town, we spent a lot of time working on the farm. My Dad’s side of the family has a German heritage, and Mom’s side is from Sweden. My parents and grandparents were all followers of Jesus, so I’ve always been part of Bible teaching churches. Growing up, we attended the First Evangelical Free Church in Rockford. I attended and graduated from Trinity College with a bachelor’s degree in Biology, which is where I met my wife Debbie. We were married in 1979 and have lived in northern Illinois, western Illinois, Lincoln (twice) and suburban Philadelphia. We have one child, Zach, who is graduating in early May from Oklahoma State with degrees in Aviation Sciences and Economics. He’s getting married two weeks after graduation, so we have an exciting, busy spring ahead of us!

I don’t really have a favorite color, I like all of them! My favorite food is filet mignon and in my free time I love to read, watch sports and spend time with friends. I was connected to City Impact when I was asked to join the ministry’s resource team in April 2004, and then served on the Board of Directors from 2004-2009.

Past experiences like growing up in a church with an active Youth Group, and going to a Christian college where investing our time, talent and treasure in the kingdom was part of the program have lead me to volunteer at a place like City Impact Jesus plainly told us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40). Working with the kids, families, staff and the board of directors at City Impact are all practical steps of obedience to what Jesus’ commanded (John 14:15).

I have many favorite memories from volunteering at City Impact. To name a few, I loved the summer outings to Saltdogs games with the 5th grade Bible Club kids, to small group time talking about the relationship Jesus wants us to have with Him.

I have been with City Impact since 2004 and I am currently a table leader/small group leader, spending time with our 5th grade boys.

Pre-K showing love to others

2010-03-18T11:02:00.000-07:00

The oh so cute Pre-K students are currently learning about the Easter story. They are talking about God dying for our sins and what an act of love it was that He did this for us. I spent a few minutes asking the Pre-K students what one thing they could do in the next week to show love to others just like Jesus showed love in the story they talked about.

Mariah- “Give my brother a big hug.”

Maliah- “Help my mom by cleaning up the living room and our bedroom.”

Jamiah- “Help my mom clean up the living room.”

Alejandra- “Help my brother clean up his room.”

Libby- “Help my sister make her bed.”

It is always so fun to sit with the youngest students of Bible Club because more often than not you get honest answers and that’s that!

4th graders shows responsibility

2010-03-15T12:46:00.001-07:00

Goal: Personal Responsibility

* Students will learn and demonstrate appropriate social skills.
* Students will take ownership for their behavior.

The 4th grade activity on Tuesday night consisted of some very small confetti. After one group had finished they began to drop the confetti on the floor, it went all over covering the area with little pieces of black confetti. Just as the students had dropped the confetti Mr. Mike (volunteer small group leader) from the other team told the students to keep the confetti in their hands and to not drop it on the floor. You should have seen the faces on the students who knew they were immediately guilty of dropping that confetti on the floor, priceless! To my sweet surprise (without being asked) the students who had dropped the confetti immediately got down on their hands and knees and began to clean up the confetti. Joshua (4th grade student) even went and found a broom and after all the students had returned to the classroom he was out in the hall sweeping up the last few pieces of confetti.

Little Miss Grace extending some grace

2010-03-13T10:11:00.000-08:00

There is a favorite game which all the Bible Club children like to play while they are waiting for program to start on Tuesday nights. They all gather together and play color tag. On Tuesday little Miss Grace (first grader) was heavily involved in playing color tag when her mom came out and asked her to show Sarah (a friend) how to play the game. Grace very kindly took Sarah by the hand and led her into the confusion. You see color tag is a very energetic and fast game. In the game, all the children, except a few, go to one wall and stand their waiting for the children in the middle to call out a color. If you have the color they call on your clothing or shoes you have to try and run to the other side of the room past the taggers, without getting tagged. Now you know what I mean when I say this is a game of energy and confusion! Back to the part about Grace and Sarah. Grace and Sarah walked to the wall of children and stood there waiting to hear the color. After noticing that Sarah was a bit unsure of herself, Grace walked up to Mrs. Bethany (Bible Club worship leader) and said, “This is my friend Sarah and this is her first time, do you think you could tell them to take it easy on her she’s a little nervous.” Oh how sweet it was to see Grace take care of her friend like that! It reminded me of the game that the first graders played a few weeks ago. The game was about helping someone in need, it reminded me of the baby doll that had fallen in the mud and Grace picked her up and was an advocate for Sarah. Grace very easily could have left Sarah to fend for herself, but she didn’t. Great example of how many times God treats us the same way.

Meet Miranda

2010-03-10T06:18:00.000-08:00

Miranda has been coming to City Impact since her Pre-k years, this year she is in the 1st grade classroom, so that makes it a little over two years that she has been with Bible Club. Miranda’s birthday is November 28th and she has one brother and 2 sisters. Miranda’s favorite food is fried chicken from Popeye’s and her favorite color is fuchsia. When I asked Miranda what her favorite thing about Bible Club was she said this “I like to play!” I also asked her what is one thing you have learned about God this year and she responded very matter- of -factly by saying “He is my father, he is everybody’s father.” One thing that Miranda is good at is jump roping, and if she only had one more day to live she would spend it by doing good in church and school.

Stamps from the 3rd grade classroom

2010-03-04T12:03:00.000-08:00

Stamp-1. a small printed card from City Imapct that expresses thankfullness or encouragement.

From: Taylor
To: Kaylan

“You’re a good friend, a good person, and a good learner.”

From: Simone
To: Taylor

“I like when you pray”

From: Kylea
To: Serinity

“You Roc!” “You are awesome and really good at expressing yourself, keep it up!”

4th Grade Prayer

2010-02-26T08:02:00.001-08:00

Upward, Inward and Outward prayer is something done frequently at Bible Club. I really enjoy hearing these young children pray out loud because not only does it build their confidence in praying in front of a group of people, it also teaches them about the realness of God. Hear what some of these precious 4th graders had to say to God.

Prayer is usually always started with upward prayer. The students may begin this with:

God I praise you because…

Michaela- “You are wise and our creator”

Oralia- “You are the King”

Linda- “You love me”

Next is Inward prayer, which starts like this:

God I am sorry for…….will you please forgive me.

Daddiz-“Yelling at my cousins and being rude”

Joshua-“Being mean to my brothers”

Oralia-“Not doing what I was told”

To finish things up, the students focus on Outward prayer. During this time, students pray for a prayer request they may have.

Madisyn-“Help my sister get through the rest of her life and get what she needs.”

GG-“Ask for prayer for the people in Haiti.”

Oralia- “Help my mom and her ankle heal up quick.”

That was just a little taste of what goes on during prayer time in the 4th grade room. To add another note to this, I really enjoy when the 4th grade class prays because they all come together in one big group to pray.

2010-02-25T13:06:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago before worship Mrs. Wanda (5th grade teacher) came to me very excited and wanted to tell me two things which she thought were “blog worthy” and boy was I excited!

Mrs. Wanda explained that during class one of the girls spoke up and told everyone that in the past week she had lied and she was asking if it was ok. The reason she had lied was to get into a party at the Light House. You had to be in the 6th grade to get in, so she lied and said she was. Mrs. Wanda was very excited because this brought about an opportunity to teach about being honest and how important it is to God to be honest. After the talk she was not ready to ask God to forgive her because she still did not think what she had done was really wrong. Later on the class was praying their inward prayers and when it got around to this particular 5th grade student she spoke out loud and asked God to forgive her for lying to get into the Light House party.

Not only was Mrs. Wanda excited to tell me about her student’s realization, she also said that this student does not usually pray out loud in front of the class. With that said, it was the 5th grade girls turn to serve the food and so Mrs. Wanda asked if she could have a girl volunteer to pray for the food and with no hesitation the same girl who had spoke up earlier raised her hand and volunteered to pray out loud.

It was so fun to hear Mrs. Wanda’s excitement when she was telling me what had happened in class that night.

Impact Journal

2010-02-22T15:19:00.001-08:00

What is one thing God helped me do lately, that I didn’t have to do, which showed kindness or sacrificial love to others?

I have prayed a lot this week. I have been praying a lot about the kids and people of Haiti. I feel so bad that that tornado hit. I hope they get water and food.

I have been trying to be a leader this week. Trying to stand up for myself and others and being people’s friends that don’t have many and being as nice as I can.

Today I’ve been giving complements and trying to be people’s friends even if their not the people I would pick out to play with all the time and I’ve been trying a lot to give complements.

Written by Teagan (4th grader)

Love and Kindness

2010-02-19T14:24:00.001-08:00

I am always so pleased to watch the 1st graders learn, partly because Mrs. Jami has a wonderful way of teaching and partly because of the understanding that seems to come from these little minds.

On Tuesday the 1st graders started class reading a book called “The best thing is love”, now the verse for the night was Matthew 5:47 and topic of the lesson was speaking of kindness and the book talked about loving others. Mrs. Jami does a wonderful job of using the books she reads to ask questions to get their minds thinking of the topic. Mrs. Jami asked the class “who might God want us to be kind to?” Grace raised her hand and said parents, Damien said our family, and Avery said everybody. Mrs. Jami also asked How can I be kind?

Avery- “Say thank you, and listen to the teacher.”

Nadier- “Helping people.”

Damien- “Respect mom and dad.”

The reading of the book and the questions all lead into the game they were going to play for the night. This game was a fun one and quite cute to watch! The point of the game was to put this statement into practice “when we love God we can show Him by being kind to everybody”, just like what Avery had said earlier. Mrs. Jami explained that there were 3 people (baby dolls) who needed some kindness shown to them and they were going to have to make the choice to help or walk on by. The first person fell down and was hurt, they could stop and put a band aid on her if they wanted to show kindness, the second person fell in a puddle of dirt and to help they had to pick her up and wipe her off, the third person looked different her face was covered with stickers and to help they would need to show kindness by saying a kind thing to her. Although hesitant at times (especially when it came to the baby doll sitting in applesauce) each 1st grader decided it was important to help the 3 people by showing them kindness. And let me tell you it was so sweet to watch.

Meet Linda

2010-02-16T13:32:00.000-08:00

This is Linda’s second year here at City Impact’s Bible Club where she is a student in the 4th grade classroom. Linda attends Hartley Elementary during the week. Linda has lots of siblings many of whom also attend Bible Club or the Impact Leadership Academy. Linda’s favorite color is pink and she really loves McDonald’s French fries. Linda really enjoys writing personal narratives. One thing she has learned about God this year is, “To not sin because if you sin you could get apart form Jesus and God”. Linda’s favorite thing about Bible Club is, “Learning about God because I don’t really know much about Him and I want to learn more”. If Linda knew she only had one more day to live she would use that day to spend time with family.

Volunteer Efforts

2010-02-12T11:36:00.001-08:00

Goal: Servant Leadership & Strengths Development
Children will know and understand their personal strengths.
Children will explore and use their strengths in a variety of contexts.
Students will actively demonstrate love and kindness through words and
actions.

If any of you know Miss Mercedez you know that she is very bubbly and fun to be around. Mercedez attends the Impact Leadership Academy on Sunday evenings and she also helps volunteer in the 3rd grade room on Tuesday’s at Bible Club. On Tuesday, I noticed that Mercedez was not looking like her usual upbeat self. I didn’t pay too much attention until later on that evening when I saw her again still looking like before. It just so happened that we walked out of the 3rd grade room together towards the fellowship hall and I asked her if she was doing ok. Mercedez told me that she had been sleeping prior to coming to Bible Club and she just really didn’t want to come. I looked at her and said but you are glad that you came now, right? She just looked at me and smiled.

Later on during worship Miss Bethany (worship leader) asked if she could have some help up in front to lead the actions to the songs they were about to sing. Without any hesitation Mercedez got right up in front and started dancing away with the other children. Even though I did not directly ask Mercedez, I could really tell she had overcome her own feelings of not wanting to be at Bible Club that night to serve others.

2010-02-11T08:20:00.000-08:00

Hear a little tidbit from Mr. C who is a volunteer in the 5th grade classroom on Tuesday evenings for Bible Club.

Goal: Spiritual Development
Youth will come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.
Youth will develop into mature followers of Jesus Christ.

“Last week Mrs. Wanda was telling the kids about the importance of doing our Bible Club devotionals. I wondered if the kids understood how important it was to regularly spend time with God in order to know Him. So I asked a question, “How many times a week do you study math?” The kids answered “Everyday”. And how many times a week do you have reading?” The kids answered, “Everyday”. So I said it’s the same way with getting to know God. We need to spend time with Him every day in order to get to know Him – and that’s why our City Impact/Bible Club leaders encourage us to have regular devotion time with God between our Tuesday night time together.”

Bible Club Highlights

2010-02-08T16:03:00.000-08:00

Some of my favorite things to write up for the blog are the highlights because they come so unexpected and are very fun to witness.

Throughout Bible Club on Tuesday all the students were learning about this verse in Philippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” The following highlights unintentionally reflect this verse and show that the students really do listen when it comes to learning about what the verses each week mean.

During the 4th grade small group time Samantha (4th grade student) saw that G.G. (4th grade student) was having trouble finding the Bible verse which Mrs. Mikki (4th grade classroom volunteer) had asked them to look up. Without saying anything Samantha got up off the couch knelt down by G.G. and very kindly took her Bible and helped her find the verse.

In the second grade room, the class was getting ready to go down to the fellowship hall to play their game for the night when Malachi asked “Could someone help me tie my shoe?” Without any hesitation, both Jordan and Noah got down on the ground and each one took one of Malachi’s shoes and tied it.

Meet Trevon

2010-02-04T13:36:00.000-08:00

Trevon is a first time 2nd grader this year at City Impact’s Bible Club and attends Hartley Elementary. Trevon celebrates his birthday on November 29th and his favorite colors are blue, green, and black. Trevon has one younger brother and one brother who is the same age. Trevon loves to eat Ramen noodles and his favorite kinds are beef and chicken. Trevon is really good at running and he has a big dog named Red. His favorite thing about Bible Club is worship “Cause you get to sing”. If Trevon knew he only had one more day to live he would spend it eating ice cream!

You've been STAMPED!

2010-02-03T11:47:00.000-08:00

From: Carlos (5^th grade student)

To: Jordan (2^nd grade student)

“Dear Jordan you are such a great brother you always tell me funny jokes, Sincerely CJ.”

From: C.C. (Middle School volunteer in 4^th grade classroom)

To: Mikki (4^th grade classroom volunteer)

“You’re just awesome I admire you so much, your so great with the 4^th graders.” C.C.

From: Samantha (4^th grade student)

To: Amara (4^th grade student)

“I like you because you serve people, and I like you.” Samantha

From: Amara (4^th grade student)

To: Mrs. Mikki (4^th grade classroom volunteer)

“Dear Mrs. Mikki, thank you for encouraging me to be a leader. God loves you, and I DO TOO!”

Meet Kiara

2010-01-29T07:59:00.000-08:00

Kiara is a pre-k student who attends Bible Club almost every Tuesday and attends Kindergarten at Belmont Elementary. Kiara’s birthday is June 30th and when asked what her favorite color was she said “red and pink, black is my favorite color, oh and white, purple and brown, I know I like colors!” Her favorite food is macaroni and cheese and all kinds of fruit oh and “those really big (showing me with her hands) things from McDonalds”, which later I found out from her sister are chicken sandwiches. Kiara has two little brothers and two sisters. I asked Kiara to tell me one thing she thinks she is good at and she said “well I am good at saying words”, and I asked what do you mean and she said “like cat, and I can spell it too, its easy C A T.” Kiara loves to sing songs at Bible Club and one thing she has learned about God is “that he died for our sins, that’s pretty much it!” If Kiara knew she only had one more day to live she said she would say “let’s go swim at the YMCA”.

Meet Miss Mandy (2nd grade teacher)

2010-01-22T12:12:00.000-08:00

Mandy was raised in Norfolk, Nebraska where she lived with her mom, dad, and two brothers. Mandy’s favorite color is green and something interesting that you may not know is Mandy loves to eat Sushi! Mandy really enjoys working out, going to the movies, traveling, reading, and being with friends and family in her free time. Mandy considered getting connected to City Impact’s Bible Club when her friend, Stephanie (who also works at City Impact), mentioned there was a need for help. Serving with City Impact is not Mandy’s first experience working with urban youth. She has also worked at Sun Dawgs, a summer camp in Omaha. She has also been a part of a mission trip to Kingston, Jamaica where she worked with children. Mandy shared that she really loves the excitement she feels from the kids each week when they come to Bible Club. Mandy is currently the 2nd grade teacher for Bible Club and has been with City Impact for a year. Mandy’s heart really shines through while teaching these young children. Mandy is very patient with the children and I just love sitting in on her class and watching God work through her.

Impact Journal from Linda

2010-01-13T10:13:00.000-08:00

God helped me finish my chors. I had lots of chors to do but I got them done.

I showed kindness to my friend, sister, brother, and mom, and dad, by doing the stuff he tells me to do.

I showed love to my friend when she has a bad day by hugging her she felt better at last she felt much, much, better.

Hear from Bible Club students as they talk about worship

2010-01-07T11:22:00.000-08:00

Each week the students learn a lesson on something important; something they can use in their every day lives this particular evening they learned about worship. Now you see earlier in the year Mrs. Ashley made it a point to go a little deeper on the topic of worship and teach the children a bit more about what it really means to worship God. If you ask any BC student what worship means they will tell you “worship means thinking only about God.” There is a verse in Psalms that really helps us look at praising and worshiping God the verse that the 4th graders went over was Psalm 103:1-6. Tonight’s lesson expanded on the subject of worship, lets see what some of the students from different classes had to say about it. I asked each student “what did you learn tonight”, and how will you use what you learned in your own life.

Macey (4th grader)-

1. “ During worship you should only be thinking about God and
nothing else.”

2. “By whenever we have worship I will only think about God and
nothing else and when I start to think of something else I will
remember that I am worshiping Him.”

Kaprice (5th grader) –

1. “I learned how we should worship God and how we should pray
and respect Him and ask for forgiveness, and at worship we
need to focus on God”

2. “Whenever I am praying I am going to work on keeping my
head bowed cause sometimes I look out at other people.

Javier (1st Grader) -

1. “To always say thank you to God.”

2. “Pray, say I love you.”

It is so fun to hear what the students have to say about what they learned. From the looks of things they are really listening!

Journal From Teagan 4th Grade

2009-12-17T08:05:00.000-08:00

I tried to be calm and not yell when I got mad. I have been working hard on it. I am very proud if myself for doing it. I try to be responsible with putting water in my Guinea pigs cage to. I really want my Guinea pigs to like me and not to be scared of me.

I tried to be nice to my sisters and play what they like and not what I like. I have been asking God to help me and I have been better at it.

I tried to be a leader at school and I have been playing with kids at school that I don’t have many friends. God has really helped me with it.

Goal: Spiritual Development

2009-12-08T17:26:00.000-08:00

Goal: Spiritual Development

• Youth will come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.
• Youth will develop into mature followers of Jesus Christ.

Ever since Mrs. Anna introduced journals to the BC students some have been on fire completing them every week! To mention one specifically, Milandra has turned in her devotional every week and on top of that she has turned in extra journals. Not only has she turned in her devotionals and extra journals, she has completed each with well thought out answers. I have been very impressed my Milandra’s willingness to fill out and bring back her Devotionals so much that I wanted to hear what she feels she is learning from this experience. Milandra shared with me this “I feel good and proud of myself for doing them!” I also asked Milandra why she does the devotionals and she told me that she really likes to read and she completes them when she has time. Finally, I asked her what she feels God is showing her through this, and she said “I learn more about Him and he tells me more about Him.” All in all I am so thankful that Milandra is taking time each week to be in God’s word. I once heard someone say “time in God’s word is never wasted time.”

Meet Daniel

2009-12-01T10:33:00.000-08:00

Daniel is a lively boy who attends City Impacts Bible Club faithfully. Daniel is in the 3rd grade and attends Hartley Elementary school. He really loves pepperoni pizza and his favorite color is blue. When I asked Daniel if he could tell me one thing he has learned about God he told me this “God is cool”. Daniel really likes to race, I asked him what kind of racing and he said he likes to race people. Daniel has one older sister, 1 dog Delany, and 2 hamsters named Wubzee and Snowball. Daniels favorite thing about coming to Bible Club is being able to learn stuff about God. I asked Daniel what “stuff” he has learned and he told me “say nice things to Him”. I was really glad I got to spend those short 5 minutes getting to know Daniel better.

Hear from leaders and volunteers as they share a highlight from this fall!

2009-11-17T13:11:00.000-08:00

I asked the volunteers and leaders to give me one highlight from this fall so far, and here is what they said.

“Daniel was sent to reroute the previous Tuesday, we ate dinner in reroute , just had one on one time, discussed other options to help him get along in class. Today Daniel was sent to reroute, all he wanted to talk about was eating dinner in reroute with me as he said he enjoyed out one on one conversation last week. I share with him I was glad he enjoyed our visit but he should not want to hang out in reroute.”

“I really enjoy when the students understand the Bible stories and can tell you the meaning.”

“The class has come together and everyone seems to get along.”

“After the chaos of the 2nd week, it has been encouraging to see the students become more disciplined.”

“I would have to say that growth in the kids has been tremendous. They are really sharing thoughts and ideas and really seem to be internalizing concepts. It has been a delight to be in the new Church and to be with the kids.”

“A highlight is that a 3rd grader didn’t think he could pray and he was encouraged to try and he did wonderful.”

“ I am inspired each week by the growing knowledge of the word that my group of girls brings to Bible Club each week.”

“Normally Tuesdays are very stressful for me and at the end of the afternoon I feel like not doing anything, but once I get to Bible Club all my energy comes and I feel happy and fortunate to serve in this place.”

“Watching the students respond to the structure and guidance given to them. Their desire to “give up” control.”

“ I am always amazed at the kids honesty. When we talk about goals they are so honest about relationships, problems, who they fight with, etc…This gives us opportunity to discuss these situations and how to handle them better, and with Jesus help.”

“Sharing the gospel with two if the kids in our class, and hearing from them about their decisions at camp to follow Jesus.”

“Getting to know the kids and leaders, seeing kids respond to direction.”

“ I was glad to see that almost all of our kids came back this year, and that club is continuing to grow in the new building.”

“ I think the excitement the pre-k room has about coming to Bible Club and how they remember the previous weeks lesson.”

Bible Club Devotionals

2009-11-13T09:48:00.000-08:00

Adryanna -Pictured on the left.

Macey -Pictured on the right.

Matthew 2: 1-12
1-Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea during the time when Herod was king. After Jesus was born, some wise men from the east came to Jerusalem.
2-They asked, “Where is the baby who was born to be the king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east. We came to worship him.”
3-When King Herod heard about this new king of the Jews, he was troubled. And all the people in Jerusalem were worried too.
4-Herod called a meeting of all the leading priests and teachers of the law. He asked them where the Christ would be born.
5-They answered, “In the town of Bethlehem in Judea. The prophet wrote about this in the Scriptures:
6-‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, you are important among t he rulers of Judah. A ruler will come from you. He will be like a shepherd for my people, the Israelites.’”
7- Then Herod had a secret meeting with the wise men from the east. He learned from them the exact time they first saw the star.
8-Then Herod sent the wise men to Bethlehem. He said to them, “Go and look carefully to find the child. When you find him, come tell me. Then I can go worship him too.”
9-The wise men heard the king and then left. They saw the same star they had seen in the east. It went before them until it stopped above the place where the child was.
10-When the wise men saw the star, they were filled with joy.
11-They went to the house where the child was and saw him with his mother, Mary. They bowed down and worshiped the child.

Day 1
1. Read Matthew 2:1-12 --- it’s okay to get some help.

2. Who are the people in this story? Make a list of every name you can find.

A: Herod, Jesus, Wise Men
M: Jesus, Herod, Mary, God, Israelites, Priest, teacher, king, wise men

3. Where does this story happen?

A: Bethlehem, Judea
M: Town of Bethlehem, Judea

Day 2

1. Read Matthew 2:1-12 again ---remember it’s okay to grab some help.

2. What happens in this story? Tell in your own words what this story is about.
A: This story is about baby Jesus and the way he was born. Well Jesus was born in a town called Bethlehem, Judea. These wise man came to worship Jeus. But, then King Herod had a secret meeting with the wise men. The wise men saw the first star. Then, King Herod sent them to go and find baby Jesus.
M: Jesus was born, all of the people of Jerusalem were worried he would become King. Wise men had also came looking for Jesus. When herald saw the wise men he told them that when they found this new king to report it to him. He said he would come and worship him to. So they went and found Jesus. They gave him presents. Then while they sleeped God gave the wise men a warning.

3. What did the wise men do when they saw the baby Jesus?

A: They filled up with joy. The wise men went to the house where baby Jesus was. When they saw him with his mother mary they bowed and worshipped him.
M: They bowed and worshipped him.

4. What 3 gifts did the wise men bring for Jesus?

A: Gold, Frankincense, and myrrah
M: gold, frankincence, and myrrh

Day 3

1. Read Matthew 2:1-12 one more time --- and grab some help if you need it.

2. What is one thing you learned from this story?

A: What Jesus could do to people and why they worship him
M: Never trust anyone you don’t know. And to trust god no matter who says to do the opposit

3. The wise men bowed down and worshiped the baby Jesus. What is one way that you can worship Jesus this week?

A: Respect my friends and teachers
M: by praying and worshipping him like the wise men did

Meet Kylea

2009-11-09T18:50:00.000-08:00

Kylea is a 3rd Grader here at City Impact’s Bible Club and also at Belmont Elementary. Her favorite colors are black and red, and she loves macaroni and cheese and Dominos cheese pizza! She has 2 sisters and 1 brother, and her favorite thing about Bible Club is shopping at the store “cause you get to buy things”. One thing she is really good at is reading and riding a skateboard. When asked “what is one thing you have learned about God since you have been coming to Bible Club”, she answered “that he is unstoppable!” If Kylea knew she only had one more day to live she would “spend all my money on food, and visit family members”.

1st graders write goals about self control

2009-11-02T18:29:00.000-08:00

Usually, I would write up journal entries for you all to view separately. This week for the 1st grade class I decided it would be best to write them all in one lump sum, because for this particular journal entry Mrs. Jamie (1st grade leader) had the students write on the same topic. The 1st graders were to write one sentence in their journals and draw a picture which would describe their entry about self control.

I will share what each of the 1st graders wrote for their sentence on self control.

Damian- “Be patient when you want to play.”

Avery- “O bay your mom.”

Olivia- “Obey your dad.”

Javier- “I will stop kicking my feet.” (This particular evening Javier was having trouble keeping his feet still under the table, and he thought it would be good self control to stop.)

Zahria- “Obey your teacher.”

Miranda- “Be patient win others are in line.”

I always learn so much from the little ones whose belief in God seems to come so naturally. It was so precious to see these little 1st graders take this seriously and I was so proud to see them make an effort to write out a sentence, even though some of it was not grammatically correct.

Hear about how God is working through devotionals at Bible Club

2009-10-29T07:22:00.000-07:00

One of the things I really appreciate about working at City Impact is how often I get to see other staff using what they are passionate about to impact the students’ lives. This fall, Mrs. Anna put together devotional packets, which the students take home every week to complete. Every devotional is grounded in the Word and begins with a scripture for the children to read. For example, the first week’s scripture was Luke 1:26-38. Following the scripture, are three days of questions and each day has a different focus. Day One, just asks for the facts surrounding the verse. Day Two, asks students to dive a little deeper into what God is saying and to summarize the overall message from the passage. Then on Day 3, students apply and reflect what the verse says to their own lives.

An incentive for completion of the devotionals is earning more GFG bucks, which can be used to buy things in the Gifts from God store on program nights. Students earn 5 dollars for every day that is thoughtfully completed. It was emphasized that the reasoning behind doing these devotionals was not just so they could earn more GFG bucks, but to have a deeper understanding for Gods word.

When I heard that the students were going to be taking home devotionals every week I was so excited, because even today I struggle with studying Gods word. I know it would have helped greatly to have begun learning at a younger age.

The first Tuesday after we handed out devotionals, almost 20 students brought them back; with all three days completed! Boy was I blessed when I read through them and saw how the Bible Club students really did put their hearts into it. I was so excited that I wanted to share some of the answers with you. I know I already shared that this week’s devotional revolved around the verses in Luke 1 verses 26-38. These verses talk about when God sent the angel Gabriel to Mary to tell her that she would become pregnant with a son and she would name him Jesus. As carrying this child was an act of obedience for Mary so the students were asked on day three “what is one thing you could do this week to obey God?” Here are some of the answers.

“Obey my parents and don’t say o my God.”

“Listen to Him (God) because he can tell you to do something in your heart.”

“Pray.”

“Do my bunny chores even if I don’t want to.”

“Pray, worship Him, and read the bible.”

I could not resist sharing this answer with all of you. The question was “is it always easy to obey God?” and Miya answered “N.O. – spells no!”

This is just a little taste of what was brought back in the devotionals this week. Again I will have to say that it was so fun to see the effort that was made.

Dinner Time

2009-10-16T08:14:00.000-07:00

Every week I have the opportunity to sit with a different class and eat dinner, and I love every class I eat with. This week I decided to eat with the 5^th graders and it was a highlight of my night.

Recently, Mrs. Renee (a long time volunteer) traveled to Atlanta and while she was there she bought shirts for each of the 5^th graders and brought them to Bible Club on Tuesday. Now, it would have been really easy for Mrs. Renee to just set out the t shirts and have the students pick one out, but she decided to make it a learning experience.

Mrs. Renee set out the t shirts on a couch and told the students that in order to receive a turn they would have to answer a question. She had come up with some Bible trivia and the first question was about Moses. Champagne answered first, so she was able to have first pick at the shirts. Then CJ answered correctly, then Milandra, then Adryanna, then Jurnee… The students were very excited to get the shirts and they thanked Mrs. Renee for bringing them.

This story is so special because it shows in such a simple way, how much our volunteers care about the kids at Bible Club. It goes far beyond the 2 hours they spend with them on Tuesday nights!

Meet Malachi

2009-10-12T15:24:00.000-07:00

Malachi is a 2^nd grader who attends Bible Club regularly. He is a student at Elliot Elementary this year and his favorite color is black, “because anything can go with black.” He likes to match. Malachi’s favorite food is hot dogs cut into macaroni and cheese, and he has 5 sisters and 1 brother! I asked Malachi what his favorite thing about Bible Club was and he said “learn about Jesus, because he died for our sins.” Malachi wants to be a fire fighter when he grows up. One thing he is really good at is soccer and hockey. If Malachi had one more day to live he would get a snack, lay down, and watch T.V.

Special Guest

2009-10-07T18:35:00.000-07:00

Worship, what does worship mean? Well as you think about it I will tell you what the students at Bible Club would tell you. If you asked them the very same question they would tell you “worship means thinking only about God”.

Worship takes place at the very end of Bible Club each time we meat, this is where the students come to get hyped about worshiping out creator. The night’s activities were centered on what it means to worship God, so when it was time to come together all the students could answer Mrs. Ashley when she asked them what it meant to worship.

Mrs. Ashley read the students the story in the bible about Paul and Silas when they were in prison and how they worshiped God even though they were in a scary dark jail they still knew it was most important to worship God. I was so pleased to see how intently the students listened and how well they respected Mrs. Ashley by being quiet and staying in their chairs. When Mrs. Ashley was finished with the story she was very excited to tell the students that there was a very special guest coming to be with them during worship. Up on stage where Mrs. Ashley was standing there was an easel with a chalk board on it and some paper, and beside that was a big green comfy looking chair. The students were quiet and eager to know who this special guest was and finally Mrs. Ashley welcomed Him to the stage. God was the special guest welcomed to the stage, and Mrs. Ashley asked the students to help God feel welcomed because he was very excited to come join them.

After God was introduced Mrs. Ashley did an activity with the students where she wrote on the chalk board the things the students were thankful for. The night ended with prayer and the students singing “Awesome God”, with no music!

To give you a little glimpse of how well the students participated I wanted to share this with you. During worship I was sitting at the back of the fellowship hall by the door waiting for parents to come pick up their students and a woman walked in and said “oh it must me quiet time”, I smiled and said to her “no they are just listening really well.” Tuesday nights worship was such an improvement from the last time before break and I know we were all so excited to see all the students behave, respect each other and God.

Book for God

2009-10-05T19:36:00.000-07:00

I think I say this a lot, but sitting in on the 1^st grade classroom always brings me great joy, because every time the students answer questions I can tell they are coming straight from their hearts. This Tuesday I enjoyed spending time with them so much as they learned about worship, that I want to share my experience with you all.

As I walked into the 1^st grade room, Mrs. Angie had just finished up reading the students a book (about Gods love) and was getting ready to pass out paper and colors. While the students were sitting quietly Mrs. Angie asked them to tell her “what is so special about God”? Javier said he is special because “he gives us water”, Damien said “He deserves to be worshiped”, and Zahria said “He wants everyone to have a good life”. The students were then to pick out some colors and then color a picture of why they think God is so special!

The 1^st graders were having a great time and I was very surprised to see all the wonderful pictures being drawn, the 1^st grade room sure does have a few great artists! Mrs. Angie asked the students if they remembered the book that they had read just a few minutes prior to this activity and they all remembered that the book was about God’s love. Mrs. Angie went on to tell the students that they were going to make their own book with all the pictures they were drawing and then when it was all put together they were going to read it. Being that the theme was based on worship, Mrs. Angie read the students a verse in Psalms 29:2 ^“Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness”, and then asked the students what it meant to be holy.

I was just tickled to hear their answers; Zahria said “Holy is like praying”, Javier said “being nice”, Avery said “giving”, and Olivia said “making friends”. Throughout the activity, Mrs. Angie reminded the students what it meant to worship God and how important it is. When the students were all done they put their pages together and read it as a book. I know God was smiling when he saw what they had drawn about Him.

3rd graders learn what it means to really worship God

2009-10-01T11:24:00.000-07:00

Beginning something new (like the new semester in a new building) can bring about many different challenges. It is so nice though, that all the Bible Club staff and leaders can team up to bring unity to the classrooms by remembering our mission of bringing God’s transforming hope into the lives of our kids.

The first room I visited Tuesday evening was the 3^rd grade room and what a lively bunch they were! After the children were assigned their seats Mrs. Sheri began talking to the students about how important it is to learn “give me 5”, she went around the room asking students to list the 5 components that are used to put together “give me 5” and each student who raised his/her hand did an excellent job answering correctly. I was very please to see how well the students were answering Mrs. Sheri’s questions and how respectful they were while others were talking.

When Mrs. Sheri was finished talking about the importance of “give me 5” she began passing out little baggies of potato chips to each student, and she told them they could start eating them right away. While the students were eating their potato chips Mrs. Sheri stood up in front of the class and read a book on the fruits of the spirit and emphasized how God thinks it is important for us to possess these qualities. At different spots during the reading of the book Mrs. Sheri went over to her glass of water and took some big sips, mind you the students are still eating their potato chips with no water anywhere to be seen on their tables. Mrs. Sheri made a few comments about how thirsty she was and how good the water tasted.

Now by this time I could feel my own mouth watering from watching all these students eat salty potato chips with out drinking any water! While continuing on with their eating, Mrs. Sheri introduced a new version of Jesus loves me to the students and they listened while they finished up their chips. I could hear students here and there asking why Mrs. Sheri got to have water and they began to wonder why they weren’t getting any water. When the song was over Mrs. Sheri asked the students what they wanted the most right then and they all said water! While Mrs. Sheri passed out water she asked “even though you were learning about Jesus you were really thinking about having water?” Mrs. Sheri then had the opportunity to talk to the students about “real worship” and when you are really worshiping God you are thinking “only” about Him. She emphasized how it can be difficult to do at times, because of other distractions. But God still wants us to spend time thinking only about Him, adoring only Him when we worship.

Meet Oralia

2009-09-11T09:58:00.000-07:00

Each time I get the opportunity to spend one-on-one time with different students, I am just blown away by their soft spirits and cooperation. I got to spend a few minutes talking to Oralia on Tuesday evening right before dinner.

Oralia is a 4^th grader here at City Impact, she was born on January 19 which would make her 9 years old right now. Oralia has 1 older brother, 2 older sisters, and 2 younger sisters; what a big family! Oralia attends Hartley Elementary. Her favorite food is macaroni and cheese from the box and her favorite color is blue.

I asked Oralia to tell me one thing she is really good at and she said writing stories, I asked her what kind of stories and she said this “sometimes I write about scary stories and sometimes funny stories.” I asked her who she loves the very most and she said her grandma because “sometimes when I am at school, without asking her she makes my bed.” If Oralia knew she only had one more day to live she would “make that day the best day ever.”

God Created Us

2009-09-03T13:54:00.000-07:00

If you ever get the chance to meet the 1st grade class I know you will be as tickled as I have been.

On Tuesday, the 1st grade class joined together on the floor to listen to a book Mrs. Jamie was going to read. This book was called “Boz Says” and by reading this book Mrs. Jamie had the opportunity to talk to the 1st graders about how God created our bodies to work. Not only did the 1st graders get to listen to the book they also got to participate by doing the things that Boz said to do. So they jumped, they clapped, they hopped on one foot, they hopped like a bunny and made silly faces, I could really tell the students enjoyed getting to use their bodies to do things that Boz said.

Mrs. Jamie has a really great way of transitioning from one thing to the other, on Tuesday after reading the book she went into asking the students what kinds of things they could do to be kind to other friends, and by doing this they would be using their bodies like they had just talked about. Damien said that he could pick up after a friend, Avery said she could draw a picture or make something for a friend, and Javier said he could play with a friend. Talking about doing kind things for others led into Mrs. Jamie talking about City Impact’s “Give Me Five” signal. “Give Me Five” is what we say at program to get students’ attention. The Five stands for 1) Freeze 2) Hands Free 3) Eyes on the Speaker 4) Be Quiet 5) Listen Actively

Mrs. Jamie asked the students to tell her what each essential meant and what they were to do when she said “give me 5!”. I could not believe how in tune these 1st graders were and how well they explained the 5 essentials. Mrs. Jamie presented each of the 1st graders with a treat because last week at worship when Mrs. Ashley said “give me 5” all of the 1st graders did it the 1st time they were asked. Mrs. Jamie made sure she let the students know how proud she was of them for following the rules.

Making Something Out of Nothing

2009-08-24T15:37:00.001-07:00

I was so excited to see how full the 4^th grade classroom was on Tuesday evening at Bible Club. Making the switch from Middle Cross to First Baptist provided an easy transition for students into their new classrooms for the new year. Not only was I excited to see the familiar faces of past students I was even more excited to see the faces of new students!

The lesson for the night for all Bible Club classes was “God is creator.” So, each classroom did a different activity to teach the material to the students. In the 4^th grade room, the students were split into three small groups and were then told that they had 30 seconds to make something out of nothing!

It was fun to see the students trying to use their hands and arms to create their “something”. When the 30 seconds was up the teachers asked the students if it was hard to make something out of nothing, and the students agreed that it was. Next each group was given a bag of items and they were told that they had 10 minutes to create something. At the end of the 10 minutes each group presented what they had worked together to create. One group created a flower with a stand, another group created their own version of Sponge Bob and the last group each presented something they had made individually.

After each group shared what they had created, they all got into their groups and read Psalm 8 together and from there discussed questions. As I have stated before I think it is such a wonderful thing that the students at City Impact have the opportunity to be in the word together. They talked about why God is good, and one student said that he is good because he created everything. They also went around and said what their favorite thing God had created is, I was able to catch what one particular group of students said. Keanu said his favorite thing is our legs so we can walk, Ronesha said her grandma, Orelia said “cars so we don’t have to walk”, and Corion said pizza is his favorite thing which God created.

I was elated to see how involved the students were in the discussions. As I was in the room listening to all the talking, I overheard Mrs. Mikki talk to her group about how we don’t know how exactly how God created the things in the beginning. While she was talking, I suddenly heard Amara say to her group “God is God, it would take him 2 seconds to make your father”. Hehe! I thought it was so neat to see Amara talking about our Creator in that way and putting so much faith in how powerful he is!

Meet Damian

2009-08-20T12:05:00.000-07:00

Damian is a new 1^st grader to City Impacts Bible Club, his soft spirit and oh so cute voice can charm anyone. Damian’s birthday is on July 4 and when I asked him what was special about that day his eyes lit up and he said “fireworks!” He has 2 sisters and his favorite food is chicken. Damian’s favorite color is red and his favorite thing to do in the summer is ride his bike. I asked Damian to tell me what he thought about God and all the things he has created and very seriously he responded with this “It’s a good thing!” Damian will be a 1^st grader at Clinton elementary this year and one thing he is really god at is riding a bike, and he doesn’t even have to use training wheels!

Grand Opening

2009-08-18T06:24:00.000-07:00

Tuesday August 11 was marked down in City Impacts history as a very special day; a day which will change the ins and outs of how Bible Club and ILA program look.

For quite a few years, City Impact had the opportunity to host the Bible Club and ILA programming at Middle Cross Church (also known as Central Alliance). As we know, our plans are not always God’s plan and within the past year City Impact received news that they would no longer be able to use Middle Cross as their place for hosting Bible Club and ILA. After a long process of seeing where God was going to lead them in the search for a new building, God led us to First Baptist Church here in Lincoln.

On Tuesday August 11th, First Baptist opened up its doors and City Impact welcomed new and many old families to the Grand Opening. Being in the position I am at City Impact allows for me to just sit back and observe the flow of things, especially when events take place. This night was filled with tours of the student’s new classrooms, great food, and a live magician.

Mrs. Ashley had approached me a few days prior to the Grand Opening event and presented an idea, this idea would consist of me taking family photos of all the families who attended the Grand Opening that evening. I was so excited and agreed to do it. When the time came on Tuesday, I set up my backdrop stand and my tripod and began to snap away. Taking the pictures was such a great idea and we plan to give each family a copy of the photograph.

During the evenings activities I was able to observe many students and their families having a great time, it is truly a wonderful thing to witness first hand what God is doing through City Impact.

Pre/K Thoughts about Bible Club

2009-08-13T07:36:00.000-07:00

Hear from the Preschool/Kindergarten Class, as they tell you what their favorite thing about City Impact is:

Kiara- Says “I like class, cause its fun and I like the show…you know all that stuff.” (I think when she says “show” she is referring to worship!

Olivia- “Singing worship for God.”

Miriah- “I love Jesus”

Grace and Avery both said “singing for Jesus”.

It sounds like the Pre/K class enjoys singing and dancing for Jesus every week at Worship!

Jasmine's Summer Camp Highlights

2009-08-06T13:27:00.000-07:00

Every year, City Impact kids attend Kids Across America Camp or KAA! This is a very high energy camp for urban youth around the nation. They play sports, stay in cabins, keep extremely busy with different outdoor adventure courses and activities, and experience spiritual growth through fellowship, bible study, and hype worship!

I had the opportunity to ask Jasmine (who is a 5th grader at Bible Club) to write me up a little bit about her highlights from Kids Across America (KAA) camp this summer. This is what she wrote:

“I learned to work out of the darkness and I learned to follow Jesus and trust him. And the best part was when the counselors dressed up kind of goofy and made like funny sounds. I like the last day they had vespers (large award & talent show) and we went to the forest and they gave prizes and champion locker prizes.”

1st Graders- Random Acts of Kindness

2009-08-04T13:09:00.001-07:00

I popped into the first grade room on Tuesday evening and was sweetly surprised at what Mrs. Jamie had them doing! They had just finished up reading a book which went along with their lesson talking about encouraging others. Mrs. Jamie pulled a pamphlet out of her bag, and she went on to tell the first grade class that they were going to write encouraging cards to “wounded warriors”.

The children were very intrigued and began to ask questions about these wounded warriors and where they were and where they came from. Mrs. Jamie explained that these warriors are men who have fought in the war and are currently in a hospital in Washington. Mrs. Jamie went on to ask the children why they should send the warriors cards and they all agreed that it would be encouraging to them. They all got up to the table and began to work on their cards, and what talent they all have. They are quite the artists! Mrs. Jamie plans to send on these cards to these wounded men in hopes that they may be encouraged.

Meet Amareion

2009-07-30T07:30:00.001-07:00

I had the opportunity to spend a few minutes before worship with Amareion who is a 1st grader at City Impact. I began my time with him by asking Amaerion to tell me a bit about what he had learned that night, and he went on to tell me that he had learned about how to be encouraging to others. I asked him who he'd like to encourage in the next week and he said his cousin Kamara. I asked him why he chose her and in all seriousness he said "because she is 5 months old." I asked him what he was going to say to encourage her and he said he was going to tell her "you are a cute baby."

As we continued to talk I asked him "how do you think God can encourage you?" and he said "you are a good person, that's all I have to say". I said to Amareion "how much do you think God loves you?" he gave me a big smile and said "100%!" I ended my time with Amerion by asking him to tell me a little bit about himself and this is what he said "well I like candy, and I like my friends, I don't know that's all." Later, he also added that he LOVES meat and called himself a carnivore! Amaerion is a very fun loving, free spirited child and even though our time was so short together I got a good dose of his BIG personality!

5th Grade Girls- Impact Journals

2009-07-27T10:48:00.000-07:00

What is one thing God helped me do lately, that I didn’t have to do, which showed kindness or sacrificial love to others?

“When I was in Minnesota, I helped my grandma by helping her plant Gladiolas. It felt like I was helping everyone that wanted to plant flowers. I did it because it was hot outside and I thought it would be kind. Next time when I go out there and she wants to plant some flowers I will help her.”--Hope

“Yesterday I watch my baby cuzin while my uncle went out to the bar. I stayed up and watch him all night long from 3pm to 2am. I was hyper at first and played with him all night until he went to sleep. He was supposed to sleep in his crib but I let him sleep in my bed. I felt glad that he got to sleep with me and I know he felt happy because he looked comfortable.”--Javaen

“Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Romans 12:10

Meet Olivia

2009-07-20T11:58:00.001-07:00

One Tuesday evening, I had the opportunity to take Olivia aside for a few minutes to talk with her about what she learned. Well that was my plan anyway, but as I have found things don’t always go according to plan! As Olivia and I began to talk I could not help but smile at her, she is such a sweet little girl and you can already tell she has a soft heart and a heart for God. I began to ask Olivia questions about God and I was almost blown away by how straight forward she was with her responses. I asked her what she thought about God and without any hesitation she said this “he is nice, because he can help us and he can do anything, when we are mad he can make us happy, when we are in trouble he can help us, and when we need him he is right there.” I was thinking to my self “am I talking to a 5 year old or a 25 year old!” In the bible God tells us to have faith like a child and that is what I was encouraged to have after speaking with Olivia. --Evian Schindler, Youth Program Communications Coordinator

5th Grade Boys- Getting in the Word

2009-07-09T09:19:00.001-07:00

One thing I really appreciate about City Impact is their passion for children to learn and be in God’s word. Each Bible lesson is centered on verses or chapters in the Bible. The theme of Tuesday’s lesson was encouragement, and the 5th grade boys were going to be reading in Exodus 17:8-13.

Mr.”C” (or Dick Countryman) asked the boys to turn in their bibles to Exodus and as they were turning he asked them if any of them were familiar with “sword drills”. Now I know this had nothing to do with the lesson at hand, but it turned into a time of teaching and excitement. Eli seemed to be the only one familiar with the term "sword drill" so Mr. C went on to explain that when he was younger he used to participate in sword drills at church. A sword drill is done to get children/people familiar with scripture placement in the bible. Mr. C said that people will throw out a verse and you will have to find what book of the bible it is in. I looked over at Ahmaad and his smile was ear to ear, he raised his hand and began to squirm in his chair. Then he exclaimed, "I got it, I memorized a verse!” He went on flipping through the bible to find it. Mr. C decided to move on with the lesson as Ahmaad looked up his verse. So, they went on to discuss the verses in Exodus and encouragement.

When they were finished Mr. C asked Ahmaad to give them the verse that he had memorized and so he did. Ahmaad began by saying "In the beginning was the word and word was with God and the word was God". All the boys scrambled to find the verse, at first everyone thought it was in Genesis but after more searching they found it was in John 1:1. I was so thrilled to see those boys getting excited about finding verses in the bible that I became the one smiling from ear to ear.--Evian Schindler, Youth Program Communications Coordinator

4th Grade Dinner Questions

2009-07-09T09:11:00.000-07:00

I had the chance to eat with the 4th grade class on Tuesday and was sweetly surprised at Mrs. Renee’s willingness to engage further in the students’ lives. Volunteers are a big part of who City Impact is and I am overwhelmed over and over again how much these volunteers really care about what they are doing in the lives of the children.

As we began to eat, Mrs. Renee pulled out some questions to liven up the dinner conversation. The first question was one where the students had to finish a sentence; the sentence was, "I wish God would......." Milandra began answering by saying that she wishes God would make other people nice. Mrs. Renee asked her to explain a bit more and came to find out she was talking about a specific person. Mrs. Renee redirected what Milandra was saying and said that maybe she could wish that God would give her the ability to be nice to that person. Linda wished that God would help her to not say mean words, Adrianna and CJ both wished God would stop crime, and Kaprice wished that God would help his uncle. Not only was this an opportunity for Mrs. Renee to get to know the students better but it was an opportunity to give advice and do some further teaching.--Evian Schindler, Youth Program Communications Coordinator

Check it out!!

2009-07-08T12:31:00.000-07:00

“Spray for Play”
A Car Wash to benefit children at The Friendship Home
sponsored by City Impact’s Leadership Academy for teens

The Impact Leadership Academy’s Philanthropy Team is a group of urban teens making a positive impact in the Lincoln community. They generated an idea to raise money to create a playground for the children at The Friendship Home.

Come and support their efforts to help young children have a safe place to play!

For more information about City Impact or The Friendship Home,
visit www.cityimpact.org / www.friendshiphome.org

Date: Saturday, July 11th
Time: 11:00 am – 3:00 pm
Location: MiddleCross Church, 29th & O

Date: Sunday, July 19th
Time: 11:00 am - 3:00 pm
Location: Union Bank, 27th & Pine Lake

3rd Grade Prayers

2009-06-23T11:24:00.000-07:00

I sat in on the 3rd graders prayer time and was thoroughly blessed by how heartfelt their prayers were. The 3rd graders along with Mrs. Chelsea were practicing upward, inward, and outward prayer. Upward is to praise God, inward is recognizing and asking God to forgive you for a sin, and outward is prayer to God for something going on in life that you need His guidance and help with. I could not help but smile as the children began to pray. Each child had a prayer cue card to use if they were stuck and could not think of anything. They could look at the cue card and be prompted. When Mrs. Chelsea announced that next they would be taking time to pray, Josh immediately said that he did not want to pray, he said that usually they don’t have to if they don’t want to. You see Mrs. Chelsea is not the regular 3rd grade teacher, and so she kindly asked Josh if tonight he would pray, since she was a visiting teacher. I tell you all this because you should have seen how submissive he was after Mrs. Chelsea said that to him, he did not even say anything else just sat there quietly and when it was his turn sure enough he opened up his mouth and prayed.

The upward prayer started with Madison, she and she praised God because he is able to protect her and is wise, Teagan praised God for talking and listening to her, Josh praised God because he is the creator, and both GG and Macy praised God because he is wise and strong.

Following the upward prayer was inward prayer. Madison asked that God would forgive her for being mean to friends, Teagan asked for forgiveness for being selfish and sometimes forgetting about Him, Josh asked that God would forgive him for yelling at his dad, Macey asked that she would be forgiven for not listening to her mother the 1st time, and GG asked God to forgive her for not obeying.

The last was outward prayer. Madison prayed for her sister who was graduating from High School, Teagan asked that God would protect her family, and Macey asked that God would let her grandpa have a safe trip back to Missouri. I think that I will often think of the way these children prayed and hope that I can do the same.

2nd Graders learn GOD MADE THEM SPECIAL!

2009-06-19T09:28:00.000-07:00

If you have never read the book You Are Special by Max Lucado, then you need to stop what you are doing and go find the book and read it! Mrs. Sheri, who is the 2nd grade classroom leader, thought reading the book to the 2nd grade classroom would be a good idea, and it was!

This book by Max Lucado portrays such a lovely illustration of the way God thinks about each one of us. I entered the class at the very end of their discussion time, after the and from what I could see the kids really loved what they had just read because they were answering every one of Mrs. Sheri’s questions correctly!
From what I have learned, children at this age are very vulnerable when it comes to how another person thinks of them. In the book there are little “Wemmicks;” they are little wooden figures who do the exact same thing day in and day out. They place gray stickers on the ugly Wemmicks and gold stars on the pretty Wemmicks. Sadly, one character in particular, Punchinello, only gets gray dots. He meets a unique Wemmick named Lucia, who does not have any dots because she does not care what anyone, but Eli thinks. So, the stickers whether gold or gray never stick! Soon Punchinello decides to visit this Eli character, and when he does Eli tells him how special he is and it does not matter what anyone else thinks.

I spoke with Mrs. Sheri and she felt as though the kids really understood; they “got it!” One child in particular (Serenity) raised her hand and stated that one thing she learned is that “God does not make mistakes”. He made each of them special. My heart has just been touched over and over again hearing these children express what they think God thinks of them.

Pre/K Interview- Zahria

2009-06-18T06:31:00.000-07:00

The pre-k students had just finished dinner and were in the gym playing as I was making my way out of the 1st grade room. I had the idea to do a “mini interview” with one of the pre-k kids and went over to Mrs. Bert and Mrs. Jeanine and asked if it would be alright if I pulled one of the kids away to ask a few questions.

I looked around the gym and saw a little girl with dark hair, with a few fluffy pony tails placed around her head. Her little pony tails were just bopping all around as she was jumping up to throw a ball up the wall as high as she could. She caught my eye so I walked over to her and asked her if she would like to come with me to talk for a little while, she looked at me and said “yes!” Her eyes were so big I knew she was interested.

We sat down in one corner of the gym and began to talk, the first question I asked her was, “How long have you been coming to City Impact?” She told me, “Just when my Birthday turns to 5” From that moment on I knew our conversation would be fun! I went on to ask Zahria what her favorite thing about coming to City Impact was and she told me that she likes to learn about God. “Liking to learn about God” seems to be a common response throughout CI when I ask any child what their favorite thing is about Bible Club. Zahria also told me she likes to dance “its really fun”. She usually dances all over the place at worship and loves to be called on to come up front and join the teen worship leaders.

After hearing that a favorite thing of Zahria’s was to learn about God, I asked her what she had leaned in her Bible lesson? She told me she had learned that God can do anything. I said to her “If God can do anything, then what kinds of things can he do?” She looked at me and said “You got a problem, He can come and make it work.”

I was having so much fun talking with Zahria and did not even realize the pondering look on her face. Then out of no where, she looked around and then said to me with the straightest and most curious face I have ever seen “I been thinking, when we die is there going to be another life?” My heart was softened one notch more and I was so excited to tell her that “Yes! We will have another life with God!” Zahria just could not believe it, she was so excited and just kept saying “yeah!, yeah!” I could tell the knobs were turning in her little head. What privilege to share with one of God’s precious children that there actually is something to look forward to when we die.

--Evian, Communication Coordinator

Zodell's new shirts

2009-06-15T10:42:00.000-07:00

Last week at Bible Club I had the opportunity to witness a very precious moment. It was the 2nd graders from Mrs. Sheri’s classroom who had the privilege to shop at the GFG store, and one 2nd grader in particular was surprisingly not too excited about this. The 2nd grader I am speaking of is Zodell, and what a lively young man he is!

According to Ms. Lindsay, Zodell’s 2nd grade small group leader, he was having trouble finding something he could buy from the GFG store. Finally after some searching through the store with Ms. Lindsay they came upon the clothes section. Zodell found two shirts and was so excited he had to try them on right then and there. I was drawn to the clothes section because of all the excitement. I heard laughter and then saw smiling faces, and Zodell basically cheering because he was so excited about his new shirts.

Now, when I use the word excited, it does not really do justice to the way Zodell really felt and the way he was acting! He was not afraid to express his excitement and told Ms. Lindsay that he was so happy he wanted to cry, and he was going to “rock” the two shirts.

I was overcome with joy watching Zodell celebrate his new shirts, but the thing that struck me the most is when I heard Zodell say “ooooo this makes my heart feel warm”. When I asked Ms. Lindsay to tell me a bit about her experience shopping with Zodell she told me that she picks Zodell up for Bible Club every week and she thought getting those shirts really was special for him.

Transformations in Reroute

2009-06-11T07:05:00.001-07:00

My first night at Bible Club I had the opportunity to sit in the re route room. When I first thought of re-route I thought it sounded like a place for all the “bad” kids to go, but to my sweet surprise I was wrong. I found that the re-route room is a place for students to take a breather, re group, set some goals and then have the opportunity to head back to class. Please don’t think that it is just a place to lounge around, reroute is very structured and Mr. John does a great job of keeping all of the kids in their proper places. When kids first arrive they are directed to sit in a chair and cool down for about 5-10 minutes; by cool down I mean sit quietly with hands folded and facing forward. After the 5-10 minutes, the kids do something called “processing” which is a time to talk about why they were sent to reroute and discuss some goals that can be reached.

Now I was not the only one in reroute that evening, sitting behind me in chairs doing their time of “cool down” sat Randa and Javaen. If my memory serves me well, I remember Randa and Javaen having a good ole time joking around and teasing each other while they were supposed to be “cooling down”. Like I said before, cooling down does not consist of talking to one another. They eventually, sat quietly and appeared ready to process. After a bit Javaen was called to the table to process with Mr. John. Trying to get Javaen to set goals for herself was like pulling teeth. Finally, with the help of Mr. John some goals were set and Javaen walked back to class, with a good attitude in fact! It was Randa’s turn to come to the table and to my surprise it was like Javaen was still sitting there! Randa and Mr. John decided on some goals and she returned to class. Both girls had been sent to reroute for disrespecting classmates/volunteers and not participating, and both girls set a goal of not being back in reroute anytime soon!

The following week, I popped into the 5 grade room to chat with the volunteers and classroom leader Mrs. Wanda about Randa & Javaen’s behavior. I spoke with Miss Joy, I asked her if there had been anything that had stuck out to her during their time together? She said, that they had a very good night and no one went to reroute! Next I decided to talk to Mrs. Wanda, she shared that over the past few weeks some of her 5th grader girls had been in reroute every Bible Club meeting! She was so pleased that no one had gone to reroute, and went on to tell me that she has noticed that they have been coming into class time with good attitudes and have been paying more attention to what they are saying! Something really exciting that happened was that Javaen took her goals very seriously, and complimented a girl in class that she formerly didn’t get along with. Javaen genuinely told this girl that she always looked very pretty in pictures. Then the two girls decided to be friends, after months of arguing! This was so encouraging for me to hear! Miss Wanda really feels like the girls are being impacted in a positive way by reroute.

After speaking with Mrs. Wanda I decided to follow up with Mr. John to gather his point of view. Mr. John was excited in telling me that the girls (Randa and Javaen) have been doing really well! They have been starting each Bible Club in reroute for about 15 minutes, not because they are in trouble but for the purpose of writing goals for the night. Mr. John reaffirmed my statement about how hard it was in the beginning to get the girls to set goals for themselves, and now they are doing it all on their own! Their goals have consisted of things like no crossing of the arms, no rolling of the eyes, and no talking back. Mr. John also made it a point to tell me that a goal they have set each time is choosing one classmate to compliment. He feels this has benefited some of the relationships between the 5th grade girls. I could hear the excitement in Mr. John’s voice as he told me about the girls, and everything he said was in line with what Mrs. Wanda had noticed. I am noticing true transformation in children and it is beautiful.

Random Acts of Kindness

2009-05-20T11:57:00.001-07:00

This week at Bible Club the 5th graders had the opportunity to shop in the GFG store. The store is filled with many fun and interesting new things and the students look forward shopping in the store, and wish they could do this every week. While walking around the store with the 5th graders I noticed that they were not only picking things out for themselves but for others also. I stopped by Quincy who was at the jewelry, lotion, body spray, etc.. part of the store and asked what he was doing, he picked up a gold bracelet and said “I am picking out a late mothers day gift for my mom”, he later decided to go with the body spray instead of the bracelet. Later on I caught sight of ATia at the same spot and asked her what she was doing and she said that she wanted to pick out a bracelet for her mother whose birthday was in a few days. I asked what colors her mother liked and after she told me we found a beautiful necklace which she purchased with her GFG bucks! I have found that shopping at the GFG store gives the children the opportunity to show love to others through gifts. --Evian Schindler, Communications Coordinator

Jocelyn's Inspiring Decision

2009-05-13T08:35:00.000-07:00

One of our goals at Bible Club is that students will learn personal responsibility; that they will take ownership for their behavior and be humble enough to learn and grow as a young person daily. Last night, it was a privilege to see one student at Bible Club exemplify this goal in a unique way.

Jocelyn is one of our 5th grade students, and she along with her peers, has been going through more extensive training in self-control and leadership to prepare them for the Impact Leadership Academy. In just 4 short months, our 5th grade students know and understand they will be graduating into the ILA and they are going to be asked to dream even bigger and do even greater things for God’s kingdom! Along with the excitement of this upcoming graduation from Bible Club, the 5th graders are putting forth the effort to become stronger and more disciplined leaders. We talked yesterday about the type of leaders they are going to be: servant leaders! That means it’s not going to be glamorous, they may not be up front, they won’t necessarily be praised, or even recognized all the time; instead a servant leader lays down their life to bless other people. To gain practice being this type of leader, the 5th grade class has been asked to really step it up with the CI Essentials; a set of guidelines that students follow to instill social skills and job skills into their day to day behavior. From “Raising hands” to “No inappropriate comments or gestures”, each essential teaches students to put others first and to understand what is and is not socially acceptable.

The CI Essentials are just way we help encourage personal responsibility with our youth. After a brief CI Essential lesson last night and a storm of questions about all the cool things they’ll get to do at the ILA, the 5th graders moved on with their normal Bible study. It was about half way through the night, when Jocelyn showed how much she understands what personal responsibility is all about. See, when they were doing their active bible lesson in groups, one of Jocelyn’s peers really upset her. A few weeks ago, Jocelyn would have probably rolled her eyes or responded negatively in the midst of her frustration. Yet what she did instead is something many adults could learn from… she just walked away! Her blood was just boiling and she knew that what she really wanted to do was let her peer have it; I mean she was really mad! She remembered our discussion from an hour earlier, about “Banning” any and all eye rolling, lip smacking, arm crossing, sighing, and other tantrum like behavior and she asked her classroom leader if she could send her self to reroute to cool down. Let me say this again, she actually sent herself to reroute! Talk about personal responsibility! Once in reroute, Jocelyn calmly explained what was going on, and she went back to class 10 minutes later and talked out her disagreement calmly with her peer! I was personally very humbled by Jocelyn’s great decision to walk away from the problem before saying something mean or acting out in way that would get her in trouble. I know I’ll think about Jocelyn next time I get mad or annoyed, and I’ll try to be brave enough to just regroup before dealing with the situation out of anger.

Atia's Faith

2009-05-08T13:11:00.000-07:00

Recently during Bible Club, the 5th grade classroom discussed how God made all of us to reflect Him and how He lives in each one of us. The students and small group leaders discussed that if God wants his people to reflect Him, then we should act like God wants us too. During the middle of the lesson Atia, a 5th grade student, shouted “If you let God in your heart, then you have to act like God wants you too. Even though the nonbelievers don’t believe in God, they are still His children.” Mrs. Wanda, the Classroom Leader, reinforces that Atia is absolutely correct. Mrs. Wanda tells the students that God loves and forgives all of us; believers and nonbelievers.

After the lesson, I was curious to know were Atia had learned how important it was to act like God wants us too. She responded, “I don’t know. Well…actually, I learned it from my Precious Moments Bible my mom gave me when I was 3 years old.”

"Gifts from God" Youth Store

2009-04-30T10:07:00.000-07:00

One unique aspect of City Impact’s Bible Club & Impact Leadership Academy is our youth store. The youth store is a way for CI students to be rewarded for positive decisions they make. This year the store was revamped slightly to reflect our passion for authentic youth leadership and youth voice!

To start this renovation project, we had to figure out what our students wanted to call the store. Therefore, we had a program wide brainstorming process, where all students from 1st-12th grade submitted their ideas for a store name. Then, our Teen Directional Team narrowed all the ideas to their top 5, and made ballots for CI Students to vote! The Votes came in and overwhelming the CI Students decided to name their store, The GFG (Gifts from God.)

After deciding on a name, we had to find the right management team! Again, we thought, “Who better to run this store, than the young people themselves?!” We didn’t have to look far to find two teen girls, who have the perfect set of skills to run The GFG! GFG Managers Radious & Patty got to work right away; familiarizing themselves with the set up, clean-up, & cashier procedures for the store. They are even in charge of doing a brief orientation with each Bible Club class that shops; explaining the rules and expectations of the store and helping the younger kids pick out items they can afford.

It has been a big time highlight watching these two ILA girls take pride in their manager positions and seeing them run our awesome GFG Youth Store. Radious has really enjoyed taking over the casher and check-out routine during Bible Club and Patty does an excellent job assisting the kids with their shopping and making sure they follow the rules! Our GFG Managers have special strengths that really complement each other and make them a great fit for this project! Our Bible Club kids have loved the benefits of shopping too and seem to look up to their store managers. I’ve witness our BC kids take the GFG rules seriously when they see how important Patty and Radious take them!

The GFG Vision Statement

To provide, a positive and rewarding incentive program, where City Impact youth will be affirmed for attendance, personal bible study, and additional impact journals. The youth store will be managed by a group of ILA teens to promote ownership and an authentic leadership opportunity.

2009-04-28T11:14:00.001-07:00

I often see the Lord through the prayers of Taylor. His ability to simplify the beauty of faith through his words never fail to strengthen my own beliefs. I see God in every aspect of City Impact. On Tuesday nights, the Church becomes this unexplainable energy…and one can sense the genuine love that each and every individual in this organization has for the Lord and the City Impact Family. We are all so blessed for each other.
Lindsay, 2nd Grade Bible Club Volunteer

Insight from Reroute

2009-04-09T10:24:00.000-07:00

Perseverance. It is a necessity for anyone with a love for children. It is a trait that I have sought with eagerness. It would be simple to write about a small glimpse at a child’s growth, but instead I want to share my faith in the fact that children are long term investments.

I stared working with children under the expectation that a few hours a day with a child would yield immediate- all encompassing results. However, over and over I watched hours of my time working with children one-on-one evolve into nothing. One child in specific is still struggling with an obedience issue she has had for almost four years.

Don’t get me wrong- God has changed countless children at City Impact and through his grace I have seen passion ignite in young hearts. However, I have seen many children who never seem to progress – some which seem to fall away into themselves.
In this, God has challenged my distraught soul to see His works on this earth are more than my “instant gratification” eyes see. I have talked to life-long teachers, including my own mother. She reassures me that every second of investment in a child is time well spent. Children take perseverance and understanding, that God – not you - will work in His time and His time only in their lives.

I can only be a tool- I pray to be used by God to change lives. And as for those whom seem to remain stagnant – I pray for the faith that they will one day hear God’s call.
-John Keeney, Reroute Coordinator

Hebrews 11- Bible Club students ask about FAITH

2009-04-02T12:23:00.000-07:00

It appears that the Lord lead two different small groups through Hebrews 11 in the last couple months at Bible Club. Read how our Bible Club students are learning and grasping the concept of having faith in things unseen

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commanded for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what is visible. By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commanded as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead. By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him far away. For before he was taken, he was commanded as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek Him. Hebrews 11:1-6

5th Grade Boys:

One night after prayer time we had a few extra minutes, so we did an object lesson about faith. We had one of the boys stand up, arms folded, and eyes closed. Then a second boy stood behind him. The first boy leaned backwards and the other one caught him. It was fun for the boys, so we repeated it a few times. Then I told them about Hebrews 11:1-6—how faith is believing in things unseen. For some weeks after the boys remembered the lesson and they kept wanting to practice “the faith exercise.” --Dick Countryman, 5th Grade Small Group Leader

3rd Grade Students:

About 4 weeks ago I was with my small group and we were coming to the end of our discussion when Madisyn asked a question about faith. The other girls wanted to know what the word meant and wanted some examples of faith. I took the girls to Hebrews 11 and read the first part of the chapter to them. I asked the girls if they knew why Abel showed faith, how Noah and Abraham trusted the Lord, and they didn’t really know the stories. So we went back to the Old Testament and read the stories of Cain and Abel, Noah, and Abraham. The girls were fascinated by the stories, but the best part was that the girls grasped the concept of faith in a realistic way. It was encouraging to see them grow and ask questions about faith and God. Since that week, every small group we’ve gone to the Bible to explore a concept from our lesson. It’s neat to see my group grow from week to week.

Importance of Relationships

2009-04-02T11:29:00.000-07:00

One of City Impact’s Core Values is RELATIONSHIPS. Below, one of our ministry team members reflects on how getting to know students personally outside of program improves his ministry at Bible Club:

“The most memorable times for me have been in activities outside of Bible Club. I have taken two boys out for breakfast and attended a wrestling meet for a third boy. I have really seen a difference in how they relate to me after doing a one-on-one activity!”
--Del Wilmot, 5th grade Small Group Leader

Stamp

2009-03-24T07:14:00.000-07:00

Dear Madison,

I just wanted to tell you that you always make me smile and that you are one of my favorite kids.
-C.C., Bible Club Youth Volunteer

Macey's Journal

2009-03-13T12:54:00.000-07:00

On a day last week I helped my dad clean off the driveway, with 2 inches of ice stuck on. But, he didn’t really help me because I did it by myself. I felt so happy! But the main reason is about how my mom and dad felt. My mom felt as if she would have done it, but I did it. My dad said it was the best present ever.
-Macey, 3rd Grade Bible Club

Adryanna's Journal- 4th Grade

2009-03-10T09:18:00.001-07:00

Today I helped my cousin figure out a problem in math. It was about a-rays and angles. I told her to reread the directions. Then by the time she was done she understood the problem. It made her feel great when she got a 100% on her test. I felt very good for her.
-Adryanna, BC 4th Grade

Beautiful Turn of events...

2009-02-18T07:48:00.001-08:00

It has been so wonderful watching our teens grow and mature as young people, as they volunteer with the elementary students at Bible Club. There is just something about serving the younger kids that melts the hearts of our teens, and through that special leadership opportunity their confidence to shine for Christ grows.

Last night at Bible Club, Mercedez, one of our teen volunteers, had to walk a misbehaving student out of class and up to our reroute room. Let me give you some back ground on this unique situation. Two years ago when I started at City Impact, Mercedez was struggling with following directions, listening to adults, and showing kindness and sacrificial love while at City Impact. Mercedez has always had a great outgoing personality, but she was still learning when it was and wasn’t appropriate to “woo” her peers. She ended up in reroute often last year, so she could learn positive ways to express herself. Most of the time she would get very bent out of shape going there too! Let me just say it was never a smooth transition getting her from class to reroute; negative comments were made & eyes were rolled! However, Mercedez will now proclaim that the time she spent in reroute really paid off. One year later, and she has decided to give her life to Christ and is a strong leader at both Bible Club and the Impact Leadership Academy.

So you can imagine what it must have felt like for Mercedez to be on the other end last night, actually walking a student to reroute! It was so sweet watching her walk the angry and crying 2nd grader up to reroute. Mercedez was saying things like, “I know just how you feel, but don’t worry it’s only reroute!” and “it will be really good for you, and you’ll only have to be in there for a little bit” and “I’ve been there lots of times, and its not so bad!”

After Mercedez dropped off the student and was heading back to class she said, “Gosh, Miss Ashley, taking students to reroute is hard! How do you do that?!” And I just looked at her and replied, “It gets so much easier when I see the work God does in someone like you.”

Black History Celebration

2009-02-17T08:32:00.000-08:00

City Impact's annual Black History Month Celebration is coming up next week. This year we are paying tribute to young African American Heroes. Each class at Bible Club was an assigned a special project to contribute to the event. The 3rd grade class is in charge of designing a display board, and they chose to use their display board to honor Ruby Bridges. Ruby Bridges was a 1st grade black girl from New Orleans, who was the first kid to integrate in an all white school. Despite death threats and all the white kids in class dropping out, Ruby went to school every day! The 3rd graders were so inspired by her story and courage they decided to write notes of encouragement to her to put out with their display board. When they discovered that Ruby Bridges was still living, they eagerly agreed to send their notes and display board to her after the event! Below is one of those special notes written to Ruby Bridges:

Dear Ruby Bridges,

You are amazing, talented and a brave woman. You have done something I would never do. So small, but so brave.
-3rd Grade Student

4th Grade Prayer Time

2009-02-10T10:25:00.000-08:00

Every Tuesday evening, at Bible Club, the 4th grade classroom circles together to spend time in prayer. Watching this class come before the Lord is so special, because at the beginning of the school year they were visibly uncomfortable praying: laughing, joking around, or not saying anything at all. Now, the 4th graders are beginning to see that talking to God is an important part of having a relationship with Him. Prior to prayer time recently, La Monica, a 4th grade student, suggested that during outward prayer the students could pray for each other to do well on their state wide writing test. Outward prayer is when students pray “out” of their own lives about a variety of different situations they need God’s help with. The students anxiously agreed and expressed their worries about the writing test. (The following day LPS was conducting the state wide writing test to 4th graders.) Each student prayed for the person sitting next to them, asking God to help their classmates successfully complete the state wide writing test. What a beautiful thing to watch young people lift one another up in prayer!

3rd Grade Stamp

2009-02-06T12:02:00.001-08:00

Dear GiGi,

You are such a good friend. I am so glad you are in my class! You are really nice.
Love, Teagan – Bible Club 3rd Grade

Impact Journal Entry

2009-02-05T08:26:00.001-08:00

I promise my Grame and Gramp that I will respect others and rake leaves. So I did it and they gave me 5 dollars and put it on my chore money. Then they changed it to 10 dollars because on conference night my teacher told my Grame that I got all my work done and I was being nice to others. So I got a smelly sticker and I got a brass out of the treasure box. I got all of my chart full. My sticker had a smiley face on it. It smelled like bananas and the color was yellow. It was in October and I got to pick out a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch. I went on the hayrack ride, but I got scared and started to shake so I moved seats and sat by my Grame and Grandpa.
-Mickela, Bible Club 3rd Grade

2009-01-20T11:52:00.000-08:00

Prior to the Bible Club’s Christmas break, the 1st grade classroom talked about how Jesus is like a present, wrapped in God’s love. The classroom leader explained to the young students how important it is to ask Jesus into our hearts and be with our families over the holidays. The following are quotes from first grade students after their lesson:

“At Bible Club, I learned that Jesus is the best Christmas gift.” –Bible Club Student

“I am going to tell my family that Jesus is our savior and that he died for our sins.” – Honesty, Bible Club Student

2009-01-15T10:00:00.001-08:00

The 2nd grade classroom is filled with energy and excitement every Tuesday evening at Bible Club. This young group of students is the opposite of shy when it comes to speaking in front of the class. Although filled with energy, the 2nd grade students did a wonderful job praying to their Heavenly Father.

After the classroom leader, Sherri, explained to the students that God’s people can pray anywhere and about anything, the students were asked to circle up for prayer. Zodell, a 2nd grade student, prayed about being sad because his dad died, but Zodell asked God to be with him. Karis, a 2nd grade girl, prayed that her aunt would come to know God. When the prayers were finished, Sherri gathered the students together and told them how excited God is to hear their prayers. She also reminded the 2nd graders that it is acceptable to pray anywhere, at anytime, and about anything. God loves to hear His children pray.

2009-01-14T07:06:00.000-08:00

At City Impact we believe in our youth. We believe like all people, that they were created in the Lord's image and that they are destined to do great things as kingdom laborers! We love getting our youth involved with the planning and development of our programs! We also value equipping our youth with the skills they need to succeed.

It isn't always easy to expect great things from kids and teens, especially when they don't see in themselves all the wonderful things you do. This year we have really witnessed some awesome moments though, as our youth discover the strengths and gifts they have to offer the world.

One way we have witnessed this is through our teen volunteers who help out at Bible Club! Tyree, who has grown up through Bible Club and is now a 9th grader at the ILA, is a strong leader with our younger kids. He helps run and develop worship, leads small group studies with 2nd graders, and helps set up and lead activity based bible studies!

Crystal is another ILA teen who has been part of the City Impact Family for a long time. She is so fun to watch at Bible Club because she really raises the bar with the 4th graders she volunteers with. She helps them cultivate a culture of kindness and love by having high expectations for them.

Tyree & Crystal are just two of the dozen or so teens who volunteer at Bible Club. The Lord has transformed their hearts and they are now Christ's ambassadors, bringing Jesus to our younger students!

2008-12-19T13:52:00.001-08:00

God has blessed City Impact with amazing volunteers. Mikki, a volunteer for Bible Club, helps a fourth grade student focus on setting a goal that represents sacrificial love. The young student struggles to understand the meaning of showing sacrificial love. Mikki does a wonderful job explaining that sacrificial love is about doing something for the good of others and not for your own good. As a result, the student sets a goal to help her grandmother with chores and treat her with respect. The fourth grade has focused on writing specific goals showing love towards others.

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”1 John 4:7

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”Ephesians 4:2

5th Grade Prayer

2008-12-12T13:27:00.000-08:00

City Impact values the importance of prayer within the Impact Leadership Academy and Bible Club programs. Previously in Bible Club, the 5th grade classroom practiced upward, inward, and outward prayer. The following are prayers uplifted to God by students and volunteers in the 5th grade classroom: a young lady asked God for forgiveness for being upset with her sister, another student prays for his grandma to have a successful surgery, a classroom volunteer asks God to forgive her for not spending as much time reading the Bible as she should, and a young man thanks God for how awesome he his.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7).

Power of Prayer

2008-11-21T12:15:00.000-08:00

Recently in Bible Club, a young student shared a story with her class about witnessing God’s grace through prayer. She told the class that her mother had been praying for eight years that the young girl’s uncle would invite Jesus Christ into his life. The uncle was married to a Non-Christian woman and over time had strayed from his faith. As the young student continued to share her story, she explained that after the many prayers by her mother, God answered. The uncle recently started going to church again. It is amazing how a 3rd grader can see the change God has brought to her uncle’s life through prayer.

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).