Special Moments

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...

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

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

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

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.

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

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.