Journal From Teagan 4th Grade

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!!

“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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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.