Our Mission:
Ministering God's Love in Lincoln's Urban Neighborhoods
Our Vision:
Transforming Families and Neighborhoods from the Inside Out by Equipping People with the Good News of God's Love
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 4th 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.”
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.
I was so excited to see how full the 4th 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 4th 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!
Damian is a new 1st 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 1st 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!
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.
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.”
