SonWorld Adventure Park VBS Day 5 Teaching Tips

School is out and summer is here and that means it’s time for Vacation Bible School!

Here are some great lesson tips to super charge your Gospel Light SonWorld Adventure Park VBS! These ideas are for middler and preteen students and are intended to supplement the lesson plans in the Gospel Light Bible Story Center Guides.

Living in small town rural America, our Congregational Church joined with our neighbors at the United Methodist Church. We had 60 kids evenly divided into three groups—Pre-K to K, 1-3rd grade, and 4-6th grade—and shuffled them between 7 stations.

Day 5 Lesson
The Disciple

Day 5 Scripture
John 20:1-31

Day 5 Teaching Tip
Since our 5 day VBS was only 4 days, Tuesday-Friday, we had two lessons on Friday. We decided to do the last lesson with all the kids together during the closing assembly.

How do you effectively teach a room full of kids of all ages? Reader’s Theatre, with a twist!

Here’s the twist.

Preparation
Glue regular sized paper onto cardboard, making five “cards.” One each card, use a thick magic marker to draw one of the following faces:

• Happy face
  
• Relaxing face
• Angry face
• Crying face
• Surprised face

Copy John 20 onto your word processor. Read through the story and mark the emotional points of the story, using one of the faces. The SonWorld lesson begins at 20:19, I suggest you start at verse 1 to set the stage for Thomas’ story. When you reach key emotional points in the story, hold up one of the faces and have the kids express that emotion.

Recruit someone who will hold up the faces at the appropriate time and someone to read the story.

Lesson Time
Right as you're about to teach the Bible lesson, hold up each card before the kids and have them sound off that card’s emotion. By practice, the kids will associate a sound with a card's face.

• Happy face = "Yeah!" (Use this when Jesus is seen alive)
  
• Relaxing face = "Aaaahhh!" (Use this when Jesus tells his disciples, "Peace be with you.")
• Angry face = "Urrrgghhh!" (Use this when Thomas says he won't believe until he sees for himself the risen Lord)
• Crying Face = "Booo Hoooo!" (Use this when Mary is sad)
  
• Surprise Face = "Oooohhhh!" (Use this when the tomb is found empty, when Jesus appears)
  

Now read the story of John 20.

With Readers Theatre, the students experience firsthand the emotions of the characters who encountered the risen Lord.

This teaching technique is lots of fun and works great with a group.

SonWorld Adventure Park VBS Day 4 Teaching Tips

School is out and summer is here and that means it’s time for Vacation Bible School!

Here are some great lesson tips to super charge your Gospel Light SonWorld Adventure Park VBS! These ideas are for middler and preteen students and are intended to supplement the lesson plans in the Gospel Light Bible Story Center Guides.

Living in small town rural America, our Congregational Church joined with our neighbors at the United Methodist Church. We had 60 kids evenly divided into three groups—Pre-K to K, 1-3rd grade, and 4-6th grade—and shuffled them between 7 stations.

Day 4 Lesson
The Rich Young Ruler

Day 4 Scripture
Luke 18:18-27

Day 4 Teaching Tips
Lesson
Pass out Monopoly money as students walk into the room. Ask the introductory question, “If you could go to the store and pick out anything you wanted, what would you choose?” “If you were rich and had lots of money, what kinds of things would you do with it?”

Since the rich man asked what he had to DO to inherit eternal—in other words, to earn eternal life—Jesus recited the Old Testament commandments. When the rich man claimed he kept all those, Jesus took dead aim to expose the man’s heart. Jesus tells the man to sell all his possessions, give them to the poor, and follow him. When the rich man walks away sad, Jesus exposes the man’s idolatry and covetousness—in other words, the man’s failure to keep the commandments. The incident illustrates that none are righteous. Everyone falls short. Salvation is not by works, but by grace. When Peter asks whether his sacrificial efforts will be rewarded, Jesus assures him that God rewards those who follow on Him. Salvation by grace welcomes effort, but opposes earning.

At the lesson’s conclusion, put an offering plate in the center of the room and invite students to trust Jesus as their Savior. If they're already a believer, challenge them to put Jesus first in their life.

In our class experience, as soon as the teacher put out the offering plate, the students immediately put their money in the plate.

SonWorld Adventure Park VBS Day 3 Teaching Tips

School is out and summer is here and that means it’s time for Vacation Bible School!

Here are some great lesson tips to super charge your Gospel Light SonWorld Adventure Park VBS! These ideas are for middler and preteen students and are intended to supplement the lesson plans in the Gospel Light Bible Story Center Guides.

Living in small town rural America, our Congregational Church joined with our neighbors at the United Methodist Church. We had 60 kids evenly divided into three groups—Pre-K to K, 1-3rd grade, and 4-6th grade—and shuffled them between 7 stations.

Day 3 Lesson
The Paralyzed Man

Day 3 Scripture
Mark 2:1-12

Day 3 Teaching Tips
Warm Up Activity
Get old bed blankets and pillows. Divide students into teams. With one student in the blanket and four students holding the corners, conduct a blanket race—with teams racing across the room to get pieces of the memory verse puzzle.

Lesson
Give the Teachers of the Law some credit. After they heard Jesus say to the lame man, “Your sins are forgiven,” they were right to think, “Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” Indeed, only God can forgive sin, but what these teachers don’t realize is that Jesus is God. As the Son of Man, he indeed has authority to forgive sin.

Play up the trap that Jesus willingly set for himself. It’s easy to say, “Your sins are forgiven.” Have the students repeat the phrase. Anyone can say that, but how does anyone know it’s true? Like air, God’s forgiveness is an invisible reality. Also, anyone can say, “Take your mat and walk.” Have students repeat that phrase. Anyone can say that, but making those words raise up a lame man, now that’s a whole different story! Jesus links his ability to forgive sin to his ability to heal the lame man. If he can’t heal the lame man, he can’t forgive sin. But if he can heal the lame man, he can forgive sin. When the lame man rises, everyone knows the unique authority Jesus has.

SonWorld Adventure Park VBS Day 2 Teaching Tips

School is out and summer is here and that means it’s time for Vacation Bible School!

Here are some great lesson tips to super charge your Gospel Light SonWorld Adventure Park VBS! These ideas are for middler and preteen students and are intended to supplement the lesson plans in the Gospel Light Bible Story Center Guides. Living in small town rural America, our Congregational Church joined with our neighbors at the United Methodist Church. We had 60 kids evenly divided into three groups—Pre-K to K, 1-3rd grade, and 4-6th grade—and shuffled them between 7 stations.

Day 2 Lesson
The Ten Sick Men

Day 2 Scripture
Luke 17:11-19

Day 2 Teaching Tips
Lesson
Get a package of small circle shaped stickers of various colors, available at any office supply store. As students enter the room, pick 10 or a number of them to get stickers put on their arms and faces.

Instead of just talking to students about leprosy, show them what leprosy looks like. Download pictures of leprosy off the Internet and give a short PowerPoint presentation with a laptop computer. Seeing the severity of the disease makes an impact. Students understand more why lepers were separated from society in Biblical days, they appreciate more fully Jesus’ healing miracle, and they.

Talk to the students with the stickers and ask how they feel having leprosy, being separated from their families, and their reaction after Jesus heals them.

SonWorld Adventure Park VBS Day 1 Teaching Tips

School is out and summer is here and that means it’s time for Vacation Bible School!

Here are some great lesson tips to super charge your Gospel Light SonWorld Adventure Park VBS! These ideas are for middler and preteen students and are intended to supplement the lesson plans in the Gospel Light Bible Story Center Guides.

Living in small town rural America, our Congregational Church joined with our neighbors at the United Methodist Church. We had 60 kids evenly divided into three groups—Pre-K to K, 1-3rd grade, and 4-6th grade—and shuffled them between 7 stations.


Day 1 Lesson
The Blind Man

Day 1 Scripture
John 9

Day 1 Teaching Tips
Warm up activity
Divide students into pairs and have each one take a turn walking around blindfolded. Ask, “Imagine that you’ve been blind since your birth. What do you think your life would be like?” “What’s the hardest thing about being blind? What would you miss seeing the most?”

Lesson
Prepare a bowl of mud, a bowl of water, and a towel! Use it in one of the following way: Do a skit with the blind man giving a testimony of how Jesus spit on the ground, made a mud paste, told him to wash, and got healed miraculously. During the skit, invite a student to come forward and play the part of Jesus, putting the mud on the blind man’s face. Or, invite willing students to come forward and have mud applied to their face by other students. Be sure to show off the mud to the students before it’s applied. That’s what Jesus put on the blind man’s eyes!

Kansas Tornado

While Kansas is known to have its share of tornadoes, I've never seen one with my own eyes in my 12 years here.

But videos like the one above make me glad I haven't. Severe weather photographer Douglas Kiesling talks with NBC's Amy Robach about capturing a mile-wide Kansas tornado on tape that roared through the state last night.

Hungry

Monday as I was sitting in the church study, I got the munchies.

"Wonder if there's anything in the church refrigerator?"

So I went downstairs to the kitchen, open the refrigerator door and... bingo! Inside was a carton of juice. And on the counter was some yummy breakfast biscuits topped with brown sugar.

They were goodies leftover from the graduation breakfast the previous day.

Yep, being a small church pastor does have its privileges!

Graduation

Graduation: a time when your schooling ends and your education begins.

The Little River community is celebrating its graduating students. This Tuesday is the 8th grade recognition ceremony. Yesterday was high school commencement. 30 students graduated, which was a big number for this small Kansas town. And this past Wednesday was the community's Baccalaureate service, with Father Tom Leland as the speaker.

Father Leland and I were good friends during the time he was priest at Little River's Holy Trinity Catholic Church from 2000-2003. He left to join the Army and served as a Chaplain. He talked about experiences as a military chaplain and the message was incredible.

One story he told went something like this:

One day I was walking down a sidewalk at Ft. Benning when I came upon a soldier who was on the ground, hands and knees, next to an oak tree, picking up acorns off the sidewalk, one at a time, and putting them into a bucket. I knew this soldier as brilliant computer technician. Picking up acorns was obviously a task far below his abilities-- a waste of time. When I came upon the soldier, he asked me, "Father, why am I doing this?" Beyond the fact the task assigned by his commanding officer, I didn't have a good answer.

Later, I was transfered to the Middle East. There, a military lawyer told me he was going to prosecute a combat soldier for stealing a lighter. It was a petty crime, but he did it in a combat zone, and for that reason, the accused soldier would end up spending a couple of years in military prison.

It seems harsh, but on the combat field, trust and unity of the unit is everything. One of the objectives of basic training is to root out the "me first" attitude. In the military, your life is totally dependent on your fellow soldier. And their life is totally dependent on you. One wrong move, one selfish move-- like stealing from your fellow soldier-- and the trust of the whole unit weakens and the life of every soldier falls into danger. For this reason, the military seeks to create what Jesus prayed to the Father for his disciples in John 17:22, "that they may be one as we are one."

I never saw again that soldier who was wondering why he was picking up acorns. But if I did, I would tell him, "You're doing it for the privilege of being a part of something bigger and doing something great."

The Fascinating Story of P52

How did this 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" tiny papyrus fragment shock the world of biblical scholarship?

Dr. Dan Wallace, writing at Parchment and Pen, tells the fascinating story of how this small, ancient piece of paper known as P52-- found in a trash heap in Egypt and stored unnoticed for years at the John Rylands Library in England-- has changed our understanding about the Gospel of John.

In the mid 19th century, the influential scholar F.C. Baur proposed that the Gospel of John was written late in the 2nd century. This theory gained considerable influence and consequently the historical reliability of this Gospel fell into serious doubt. But then, in 1934, Wallace writes:

... a young doctoral student studying at Manchester University came across a scrap of papyrus in the John Rylands Library. Colin H. Roberts was intrigued by the papyrus fragment, which had been excavated decades earlier from rubbish heaps in Egypt. It was only 2 & ½ inches by 3 & ½ inches, but its importance far outweighed its size. Roberts immediately recognized it as a fragment of John’s Gospel—chapter 18, verses 31 to 33 on one side, and chapter 18, verses 37 and 38 on the other, to be exact. He sent the photographs of the fragment to three of the leading papyrologists in Europe. Each one reported independently that this fragment should be dated, on paleographical grounds, between AD 100 and AD 150. A fourth scholar disagreed, arguing that the fragment should be dated in the 90s of the first century!

This tiny fragment of John’s Gospel rocked the scholarly near-consensus on the date of John, for it is impossible for a copy to be written before the original text is produced. It effectively sent two tons of German scholarship to the flames. As one wag put it, "This manuscript must have been written when the ink on the original text was barely dry."

The discovery and publication of P52, the papyrus discovered by Roberts, conjure up aphoristic ditties that are almost proverbial in their staying power and application—such as, "An ounce of evidence is worth a pound of presumption."

While Baur's late dating of John remains influential, biblical scholars like Richard Bauckman-- and his books, "Jesus and the Eyewitnesses," and "The Testimony of the Beloved Disciple" are demonstrating that John is a historically faithful witness of Jesus.

Mother's Day

Many preachers would tell you that Mother's Day is always a challenging sermon. While the Hallmark cards are emotional and sappy, the Bible paints motherhood as it really is--hard work and full of frailities, with Proverbs 31:10-31 expressing its crowning appreciation for all that mother's do.

So after you preach Proverbs 31, where else do you turn?

Yesterday I chose a text that speaks exclusively of the Messiah-- Isaiah 11:1-9.

There, Isaiah sees a vision of Jesus ruling in his soon to be future kingdom. In verses 1-5, Jesus rules with wisdom and righteousness. In verses 6-9, we see his kingdom is characterized by harmony, as illustrated by the wolf the lamb living peaceably together.

When we imitate our Savior and practice the wisdom of righteousness, we bear witness in the here and now to what God will establish in His future kingdom. For mothers then, the application was this: godly mothers who practice godly wisdom make their home a little heaven on earth.

To illustrate the point, I used Edward Hick's painting, "Peaceable Kingdom." In the foreground of the painting is God's future kingdom. The predator and prey live together. Across the ravine of time, in the background, is William Penn making peace with the Indians. The lesson of the painting: make peace today because God will make peace in the future. Be an example today of what God will establish tomorrow.

My Mom likes art. She gave me the inspiration to use Hick's painting. Thanks Mom.

Conference Minister of Kansas-Oklahoma Takes Early Retirement

This letter came in an email today from the President of the Kansas-Oklahoma Conference:

At our Conference Council meeting, on May 7th, the Rev. David Hansen, requested the Conference Council grant his request for early retirement, and the Council has done so.A committee has been appointed to work with David in this transition. Rev. Hansen will be completing several engagements prior to his leaving. The Rev. Michael Poage, pastor of Fairmount United Church of Christ, Wichita, KS, has been designated as the Acting Conference Minister. We have begun the work needed to find an Interim Conference Minister for the Kansas-Oklahoma Conference as expeditiously as possible. Judy Vincent and Jim Ahrens will be helping to direct all communications with the Conference Office to the correct people.

The Rev. Ira Williams, the Director of Camp White, resigned effective May 5th. We are also beginning the process of evaluating the camp situation and will be in communication with the conference. This has resulted in the cancellation of the Camping Program for this year. We apologize to all of those who have worked so hard at preparing for this summer’s program and those of you who were looking forward to participating.

Please keep the Conference Council, our staff, and the Rev. Mike Poage in your prayers as we work hard to make this transition go as smoothly and constructively as possible.

Dr. R. Michael Lake
K-O Conference President

I don't know what events led up to this, but I'm very disappointed to hear the camping season is canceled.

Rev. Wright's Wrong Theology

When Rev. Jeremiah Wright spoke at the National Press Club, a lot of attention was given to his remarks that pertained to his famous parishioner, Presidential candidate Barack Obama. However, Wright said some other things that were newsworthy also.

During the Q & A, Wright was asked this question:

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the father but through me." Do you believe this? And do you think Islam is a way to salvation?

Wright replied this way:

Jesus also said, "Other sheep have I who are not of this fold."

Denny Burk, in an article entitled, "Jeremiah Wright's Most Dangerous Remark," offers this response that I wholly endorse:

Wright’s response clearly implies that Muslims are among the “other sheep” to which Jesus refers in John 10:16. Thus Wright affirms that people who do not have conscious faith in Christ can nevertheless have the hope of salvation — an inclusivist position that argues there are many paths to God...

When Jesus says that he has “other sheep who are not of this fold,” it’s likely that he is referring to Gentiles who would later come to faith in Christ. The sheep that are following Him at that point in the narrative are Jews, but Jesus aims to have followers from among the Gentiles as well. Whoever the “other sheep” are understood to be, they nevertheless have the characteristics of “sheep.” They listen to and follow Christ, and they are saved only by Him.

To say that “other sheep” refers to unbelievers (or followers of Islam in Reverend Wright’s case) simply runs roughshod over the plain meaning of the passage...

Here’s the real import of what Wright said. Many people who hear Jeremiah Wright are likely to get the impression that Jesus is one of many paths that people might take to get to God. Jesus never taught any such thing. In fact, he always challenged His hearers with a stark choice. “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other” (Matthew 6:24). Jesus would brook no rivals, and He only made salvation available to those who would “honor the son” (John 5:23).

The Jeremiah Wrights of the world mislead people into thinking that Jesus Christ is one path among many that people might take to get to God. Jesus taught just the opposite. There is only one path that leads people to salvation, and it’s Jesus. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me” (John 14:6). To miss that path means forfeiting eternal life. The stakes couldn’t get any higher than that.

Greensburg, KS: One Year Later

Today is our church's 54th annual auction, filled with lots of good buys, great food, and fun rides for the kids. Last year at this time, everyone was discussing the tornado that ripped through Greensburg, KS the night before--basically wiping the town off the map.

But the city is rebuilding and President Bush is coming to give the high school commencement address.

While Greensburg is 2 1/2 hours south of Little River, our town does have a few ties to the area. In particular, there's a Meade County family that wrote a book for kids, entitled, "Where Is God in the Storm?" KWCH-12 out of Wichita has a nice feature on the book. The book was written by Shandi Lang and illustrated by her young daughter, Grace.

Gerson: A Jesus for All People

On the subject of race relations and in light of the the Rev. Jeremiah Wright-Barack Obama feud, I like what Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson writes:

It is a tribute to the power of the Christian message that there is such a thing as African American Christian theology at all. Christianity was the religion held by slave masters -- often distorted into an ideology of oppression. But African Americans found a model of liberation in the Exodus. They discovered that Jesus more closely resembled the beaten and lynched slave than their pious oppressors. And African Americans -- by their courageous assertion of God's universal love and man's universal dignity -- redeemed a nation they had entered in chains.

But black liberation theology takes this argument a large step further -- or perhaps backward. The Rev. Wright's intellectual mentor, professor James Cone of Union Theological Seminary, retreats from the universality of Christianity. "Black theology," says Cone, "refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him." And again: "Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy." And again: "In the New Testament, Jesus is not for all, but for the oppressed, the poor and unwanted of society, and against oppressors."

This emphasis on the structural evil of white America has natural political consequences -- encouraging a belief that American politics is defined by its crimes, a tendency to accept anti-government conspiracy theories about AIDS and drugs, a disturbing openness to anti-American dictators such as Castro and Gaddafi. It explains Wright's description of the Sept. 11 attacks as a "wake-up call" to "white America."

But the deepest flaws in black liberation theology are theological, not political. Jesus did advocate a special concern for the rights and welfare of the poor and helpless. But he specifically rejected a faith defined by social and political struggle, much to the disappointment of his more zealous followers. The early church, in its wrenching decision to include gentiles as equals, explicitly rejected a community defined by ethnicity. No Christian theology that asserts "Jesus is not for all" can be biblical.