Leftovers

No snack at beginning

Open with Prayer

What We Are Teaching: God wants our best effort during praise and worship.

We will have one of the BKs read:

Psalm 111:1 "I will praise the Lord with my whole heart in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation."

Mark 12:30 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength."

We will have a plate of food with servings that are half eaten (i.e., Twinkles, hot dog, apple. etc.), a paper heart also lying on the plate

Presentation: "Today I brought some wonderful snacks as rewards for children that have been very well behaved." Pull out plate of food. "Let me see, who has been well-behaved today?"

"Well, let me first show you what the snacks are." Pick up each snack and talk about how wonderful it is, and how good it tastes as you take another bite out of each one.

"Alright, let me see. So who should I give this to???"  Pause and look at the partially eaten food, then look at the children quizzically. "What's the matter? Some of you are looking at me like something is wrong." Allow children to respond. "Okay then, if you don't want a half-eaten food, how about a Twinkie? Is that better?" Then takes another bite.

"Do you guys know who the President of the United States is?  Ok, so if you invited the President of the United States to come over for a meal and he didn't arrive right away–let's say you were hungry–so you ate without him. Just when you finished eating, in walked the president. So, you did the very best thing you could do. You gave him the food that was left on your plate!" Hold up half eaten food for them to see. "Would that be a good idea? Is that how the President of the United States should be treated?"

"What about God?  Should we just give God our leftovers? We need to give God our best in everything we do. When we come to services here, come prepared to give God your best. God doesn't necessarily want your whole Twinkie, or whole apple, or whole hot dog, but God does want your whole heart." (Show heart from plate)

What do you think it means to give God your leftovers?

What do you think we are doing upstairs during the music portion at church each week?

Do you think sometimes our actions show God we are giving him leftovers?

 

Why do you think we worship God?

What are some things God has done in your life that you would like to thank Him for?

Activity:  Kids create Prayer Flags showing the good things God has done for them

"Psalm 111:1 says, 'I will praise the Lord with my whole heart.' Don't give God just your leftover time, or leftover offerings, or leftover attention. Decide today to give God all the praise!"

Parker:  Teach the kids the song - Spring up a well!

April– Bridge Core Values – Sharing by Telling the Data

Date: 04/20/08
The Bridge Core Values – Sharing
John 20:24-27 But Thomas, sometimes called the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, "We saw the Master." But he said, "Unless I see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger in the nail holes, and stick my hand in his side, I won't believe it."
Eight days later, his disciples were again in the room. This time Thomas was with them. Jesus came through the locked doors, stood among them, and said, "Peace to you."
Then he focused his attention on Thomas. "Take your finger and examine my hands. Take your hand and stick it in my side. Don't be unbelieving. Believe.

This week at Bridge Kids, we continued talking about sharing. We reviewed that listening to people is a wonderful way to show them that you care about them. Today we encouraged the BridgeKids to care for themselves as well by talking with others. It is in this balance of communication both talking and listening that both parties can value each other.

At the Bridge, We articulate our faith, innovations, and processes with individuals and other communities. We gratefully listen and learn from the stories of others. In the give and take it is our hope to become better followers of Jesus Christ. Our passion is to love people simply because they exist. Love God, Love Others as Ourselves.

Today we talked about our senses and how they are our immediate points of contact with the outside world. Through these five senses you collect our “DATA”

What is this data? Gestures, Numbers, Stories, Tones, Words, Scent, Posture, Commentspresented three levels of listening. All given to us with our 5 senses. We learned that the more you pay attention to the small things, the more you will be aware of what is around you.

We shared the story of Thomas not beleiving that Jesus came back from the dead. And how God valued that him so much that Jesus allowed him to feel his wounds. So that he could tell others what he saw.

April– Bridge Core Values – Sharing by Telling the Data

Dine and Dish:
Talk – Talk to your kids about what they learned about the five senses today. Ask your kids what they thought about telling only data. See if you can practice both sharing and listening with your BridgeKid.
Do an activity together:

Copy Cat–Take turns saying something and then having your BridgeKid repeat it back. Try to throw him or her off. If you succeed then its your turn to be the copy cat.

Gibberish – Take turns communicating something to your BridgeKid without using real language. It is funny how you can make up gibberish and still communicate what you want to say.

Research – Go to your local library together and research other ways people communicate

Incorporate – Make an effort to show your BridgeKid that you care by listening to them

Challenge Yourself – to share something with someone only using your five senses, and in 2 minutes. (talking for over 3 minutes allows for most people to not be able to process all that you are saying. Stop and ask if they understand you)

The Bridge Core Values – Sharing by Listening

Date: 04/13/08
Proverbs 18:13 “Spouting off before listening to the facts is both shameful and foolish.”

This week at Bridge Kids, we continued talking about sharing. We found that one of the best ways for someone to listen to us is to give our attention to listening to them. This creates an unspoken agreement that allows for someone to desire to hear from you after they have felt heard/

At the Bridge, We articulate our faith, innovations, and processes with individuals and other communities. We gratefully listen and learn from the stories of others. In the give and take it is our hope to become better followers of Jesus Christ. Our passion is to love people simply because they exist. Love God, Love Others as Ourselves.

Today we presented three levels of listening. The first level was the way that we have been learning all year with the talking stick. Parroting – This is listening to the other intently with the desire to repeat what they have said after they are complete. The second level we understood by the game “Gibberish”. 60% of what we understand from others is through body language. If you can articulate that someone is angry, happy, or other nuances of what they are communicating there is a greater feeling of being listened to. Finally the third level is to combine the two and to tell the person what they are saying in their own words.

There are many speaking courses that are out there but very rarely to you get a listening class. Practice these levels at home. And especially when things get heated. You will find that by active listening you will diffuse a majority of the bomb.


April– Bridge Core Values – Sharing by Listening

Dine and Dish:
Talk – Talk to your kids about what learned about listening today. Ask your kids what they thought about the three levels. See if you can practice them with your BridgeKid.
Do an activity together:

Copy Cat–Take turns saying something and then having your BridgeKid repeat it back. Try to throw him or her off. If you succeed then its your turn to be the copy cat.

Gibberish – Take turns communicating something to your BridgeKid without using real language. It is funny how you can make up gibberish and still communicate what you want to say.

Research – Go to your local library together and research other ways people communicate

Incorporate – Make an effort to show your BridgeKid that you care by listening to them

The Bridge Core Values – Week 15 – Healing Through Being Trustworthy

Proverbs 13:17 “An unreliable messenger stumbles into trouble,
but a reliable messenger brings healing.”

This week at Bridge Kids, we learned about our 5th core value: Healing. At the Bridge, we bring the broken hearted into community where true life healing happens as a result of being loved, trained, and being exposed to the Holy Spirit. We have found that the Bible gives us the pattern for this. Today we learned that being trustworthy brings healing.

We started by playing “the bad messenger” where we learned about what bad messages can do. Bad messages include gossiping, using mean words to someone, and betrayal; and all of these can get us into trouble.

We played “trust fall” where we learned that being trustworthy means that if you say you are going to catch someone you always catch them.

Each Bridge Kid created a picture with a promise that they intend to keep this week, because being trustworthy means that you keep your promises. We chose easy promises so that each bridgekid would be successful in their road to trustworthiness.


Dine and Dish:
Talk – Talk with your bridgekid about:
How gossip has hurt you in the past and what you learned from it (remember to not use names otherwise you are gossiping)
What happened when someone “dropped you” when you trusted them. Take the time to listen to times that your bridgekid felt betrayal.
Their promise, and be a cheerleader for their cause.
Do an activity together:

Make a promise – Think of one thing this week that you can do for someone that would be easy for you to accomplish. Tell that person that you promise to do it. And then make sure you do it. Challenge yourself each week to make one promise to someone that you will keep.

Play “Trust Fall” – Have your bridgekid ask “are you going to catch me?” Respond “yes I will catch you!” Then have your bridgekid fall into your arms. Catch them safely.

Go on a Date with your Bridgekid – create a promise and anticipation by asking your bridgekid out on a date. Make sure you keep your promise and the date is full of memory makers.

The Bridge Core Values – Week 15 – Healing Through Words

Proverbs 12:18 “Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing”Proverbs 15:4 “The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit”Proverbs 16:24 “Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones”

This week at Bridge Kids, we learned about our 5th core value: Healing. At the Bridge, we bring the broken hearted into community where true life healing happens as a result of being loved, trained, and being exposed to the Holy Spirit. We have found that the Bible gives us the pattern for this. Today we learned that the Bible teaches us that kind words can make someone whole.

Saying Nice Things to people, without expecting something in return, and saying something genuine is one way the bible says we can heal one another. It just so happens that it is also a way we can express our love for one another. We should never use our nice words to manipulate others into doing something for us.

We learned that two things that cause us to hurt others: reckless words and lying. We shared times that people hurt us this way, prayed and asked God to help us talk to those people and forgive them.

Each Bridge Kid created a card with a kind word written on the inside, or a picture showing how/who they love. We challenged them to give the card to someone that they love this week, whether it’s a parent, sibling, grandparent, or friend. We also challenged them to give a kind word to three different people this week in a genuine way to see how it makes other people feel and to see how it makes them feel, as well.

Dine and Dish:
Talk – Talk about how words have either encouraged or discouraged you when you were growing up – ask your kids about times people have said nice things/not-so-nice things to them and how it made them feel.
Do an activity together:

Love List - Create a List of all the things you love about one another in your family and read it out loud to one another before bed time.
Art – Create a collage with one another using positive words about your family.

Fun Notes – Buy fun postcards write notes to 3 different people telling them why you are glad they are in your life and either hand-deliver them or mail them.Nice Call – Call someone together and sing “I just called to say I love you” and tell that person why you love them and don’t call for any other reason.

The Bridge Core Values – Week 13 – Judaism

Date: 02/17/08

I John 4:10-11 “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son into the world as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

This week at Bridge Kids, we began talking about including other cultures into our world. Today the Harris Family spoke to the BK’s about their Jewish culture.At the Bridge, we welcome everyone from all backgrounds and walks of life into a community where they matter. We care and make an effort to provide a safe place for those who have slipped through the cracks of family, church, or society. Our passion is to love people simply because they exist. Love God, Love Others as Ourselves.

We first presented three things that were important in their Jewish family: God, Family, Enjoying life. The Harris’ then described how those items were celebrated with various ceremonies like Shabbat, Hanukkah, and Yom Kippur. Then we got to make puppets for the story telling of the Jewish holiday Purim; Esther was a queen whose bravery allowed her people to continue to be included in their society. As we told the story of Esther we cheered and jeered at the various characters, depending on whether they included others or not.

The Harris family has included Judaism in their lives, hopefully, by them sharing this part of their family with the Bridge Kids, you might want to share a little bit of your family’s culture with them. God likes us to lovingly include others in our lives, to show others respect and love, even if they come from a different background.

February– Bridge Core Values – Inclusion of cultures - Judaism

Dine and Dish:
Talk – Talk to your kids about what learned about Judaism Today. Ask your kids what they thought about the story of Esther.
Do an activity together:

This Friday hold your own Shabbat service– clean the house, prepare a meal, before sundown and spend the rest of the night as a family. No TV, just good family time… you may even invite another family over!
Understand – Judaism holds God, family, and life up as the top three things that are important. What three things are important in your family’s culture? Plan ways that you can make these priorities in your family’s life.

Research – Go to your local library together and research the Jewish culture. Create artwork similar to what you find in your research, write fun reports on Judaism and present them to each other at home.
Incorporate – Find something fun about the Jewish culture that you can incorporate into your home, whether it is a fun tradition, family ceremony or particular type of artwork that you can do together.

The Bridge Core Values – Week 13 – China

Date: 02/10/08

I John 4:10-11 “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son into the world as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

This week at Bridge Kids, we began talking about including other cultures into our world. Today the Hogeweides spoke to the BK’s about China.At the Bridge, we welcome everyone from all backgrounds and walks of life into a community where they matter. We care and make an effort to provide a safe place for those who have slipped through the cracks of family, church, or society. Our passion is to love people simply because they exist. Love God, Love Others as Ourselves.

We started with a couple games Pam, Rose and Jeremy taught us using chopsticks, and we learned about lucky gold coins and the Chinese New Year. We talked about Pam’s missionary experience in China, and what Rose and Jeremy saw while they were there a few months ago. Pam included the Chinese people in her life, showed them respect, and love. God likes us to lovingly include others in our lives, to show others respect and love, even if they come from a different background.

We finished our time together today, with a craft, making beautiful Chinese lanterns that the kids got to take home to remember what the Hogeweides taught us.

February– Bridge Core Values – Inclusion of cultures - China

Dine and Dish:
Talk – Talk to your kids about what learned about China Today. Ask your kids where they would go if they could go anywhere in the world
Do an activity together:
Learn to use chopsticks– get some chopsticks and spend one meal learning how to use them together.
Get Take out Chinese food and have a Chinese banquet – Find your nearest Chinese food restaurant and have you kids order one item. Take it back and eat on the floor with paper plates.
Celebrate – This week is Chinese New Year, and it’s the Year of the Rat. Have your kids teach you how to make the Chinese lanterns at home, hang them in the house or in their room.
Research – Go to your local library together and research the Chinese culture. Create artwork similar to what you find in your research, write fun reports on China and present them to each other at home.
Incorporate – Find something fun about the Chinese culture that you can incorporate into your home, whether it is a fun tradition, family ceremony or particular type of artwork that you can do together.