. First Baptist Church 724 4 th Street Pleasant Grove, AL 35127 (205)744-0100 (205)744-1708 Fax November 9, 2012 Dear Parents and Teachers: The purpose of this letter is to inform you of several upcoming ministry opportunities and to make sure you are aware of what s going in KidZone Ministries. In addition to this cover letter, I have included several pages that will provide details. Please make special note of areas where you can be involved in ministry. KidZone Konnection and FaceBook: Are you connected? Do you read what s going on? We spend a lot of time communicating through the KidZone Konnection weekly emails and providing updated information through FaceBook. If you are not getting these, please let me know. Send an email to dan@fbcpg.org to be added to the email list. On Facebook, request to be added to the FBCPG KidZone Group. Renovations: I hope you have noticed a significant difference in the KidZone Building with the new ceiling tiles, lights and paint. We have a number of projects to complete over the next year. See the renovation section enclosed. Calendar: I ve enclosed a list of events for the upcoming year. Please mark these on your calendar and plan for your children to attend and for you to be involved. Preschool: We have some changes for our growing Preschool Ministry enclosed. Ministry Needs: I have listed a number of ways which we need help in KidZone Ministry. Ministry Expectations: In order for KidZone Ministry to make a Godly impact on your children, there are some minimal standards that the family should do. See additional details enclosed. I pray all this helps you as a parent! God bless, Dan Williams Children s Pastor............................
Page 2 KidZone Building Renovations Through the Joash Project, the church committed to spend up to $121,000 on the KidZone Ministry Building. We have completed the work on the Bathrooms, the Entrance Doors, New Ceiling Lights and New Ceiling Tiles. The remaining projects are: Finish painting 9 sections on the north hallway New carpet in the hallway Install a new sink in the snack room done. Build a wall at the Sunday School Desk Area Remodel the Sunday School Desk Decorate the hallways with awnings, pictures and wall décor Paint Classrooms New carpet in classrooms Build display cabinets in hallway Most of these projects are to be done in-house meaning you and I do the work. Is it a lot to do? Yes. Is it too much for ALL of us to do? Absolutely not. That is if everyone pitches in and helps. Here s what needs to happen before the end of the year if possible... 1. Nine families need to paint a section of the hallway wall by December 15 th. This could be done any evening prior to December 15 th (Estimated time=5 hours). Could your family commit to painting a section of the hallway? 2. Two men to build a wall at the Sunday Desk Area by December 1 st. Could I get two dads to take care of this? 3. Two men to remodel the Sunday Desk by December 1 st. Could I get a couple of men to do this? 4. Need 6 ladies and one man to frame pictures for the hallway by December 1 st. This could be done on Wednesday night while the kids are in missions. 5. In January, need 12 folks to put down carpet tiles in the hallways. Carpet tiles are easy to work with. We should be able to accomplish this in three days. Please let me know how you and your family will help with these projects.
Page 3 KidZone Calendar November 9 th &10 th Craft Fair 17 th KidZone Work Day - Postponed 18 th Turn shoe boxes in for Samaritan Christmas Child 28 th Upward Basketball Evaluations December 1 st Parade 1 st Upward Basketball Evaluations 1 st KidZone Christmas - Parent s Night Out o 3:30 PM til 9:30 PM o Nursery 5 th grade 2 nd Preschool/Children s Musical - PM 7 th -9 th The Journey 10 th Upward Basketball Practice begins 27 th Holiday Hayride and Hotdogs at Clayton Kelley s in Jasper January Every Saturday Upward Games 25 th &26 th Bible Drill Retreat February Every Saturday Upward Games March 1 st Upward Celebration 9 th &10 th Kidz Blast Weekend 24 th Preschool Spring Fling / Easter Egg Hunt 29 th &30 th Mission Weekend - TBA April Bible Drill Competition-TBA 14 th Preschool/Children s Musical - PM May June 10 th -14 th VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL July 27 th -31 st CAMP BALDWIN Begin planning for camp now by saving $20 / month. This will be your child s favorite week of the summer!
Page 4 Preschool Ministry New Class for 2 s We re excited about our new class for two year olds for Sunday School. Wendy Capps and Sherry Penney are doing an excellent job teaching this class. Mission Friends Jenny Yearby and Lindsey Jones are teaching Mission Friends on Wednesday nights. New Information Forms We will be asking parents to fill out a new form for Sunday School. You will only fill the form out once but you will need to pick this form up at the Preschool Welcome Desk each Sunday and give it to your child s teacher. This will help us identify guest and obtain needed information on new preschoolers. We plan to have all this in place by the first of the year. Welcome Desk Ministry We need to have a volunteer team to man the Welcome Desk in the Preschool Hallway on Sunday morning. The goal will be to have someone at the desk by 8:55 until 9:55 on Sunday and to have a new person at the desk from 9:55 until 10:40. We will need at least 4 tag teams to rotate once a month. The purpose of this ministry will be to 1) Recognize and Welcome Visitors, 2) Greet regular attenders and 3) provide hallway safety for the preschoolers. Can you commit once a month to help with this ministry? Upcoming Preschool Events October 31 st Fall Festival November Registration for Upward Basketball and Cheerleading December 1 st KidZone Christmas - Parent s Night Out o 3:30 PM til 9:30 PM o Nursery 5 th grade December 2 nd Preschool/Children s Musical - PM December 7 th -9 th The Journey December 10 th Upward Basketball Practice begins January/February Upward Games on Saturday March 24 th Preschool Spring Fling / Easter Egg Hunt April 14 th Preschool/Children s Musical PM June 10 th -14 th Vacation Bible School
Page 5 Ministry Needs Mission Friends Teacher Mission Friends is a Wednesday night class for preschoolers from 6:30-7:30. Preschool Welcome Desk Ministry This team will work at the Welcome Desk to greet preschoolers and their families as they arrive. We 10 people to rotate one hour a month. KidZone Worship Center Decorating Ministry This team will be responsible for changing the theme in the KidZone Worship Center each month. The team could be comprised of two families that will rotate every other month. Easy ideas are offered each month in the literature. Sunday Breakfast Ministry What a blessing it would be to offer a light breakfast to the kids and teachers on Sunday morning. We have a nice, new kitchen that could be put to use every Sunday. It would be great to have someone offer to prepare food each Sunday. Aquarium Ministry I desperately need help with the aquarium. I would be glad to teach anyone what I know (which isn t much.) It would be a big help to have someone to at least help clean the glass and the filter each week. Renovation Needs as already mentioned Our lesson this past Sunday was regarding how the people came together to build the Tabernacle in the wilderness (Exodus 35). Everyone took on a responsibility and did their part. Everyone pitched in to get the job done. Will you commit to pitch in with the renovations? Decorate the KidZone Building for Christmas This would be an excellent task for some adults on Wednesday night during November. Parade Float Designer / Builder We will create a float for the PG Christmas Parade. I ve got an idea but I need lot s of help to put it together. Let s get started soon. Bible Drill Leaders for 4 th & 5 th We will kick off Bible Drills again in January at 4 PM on Sundays. We need to parents to lead the kids at this time. Upward Basketball & Cheerleaders Here are a few areas needed for Upward: o Evaluations-Help with evaluations on 11/28 and 12/1. o Data Entry-Begins now until December 10 th o Concession-Help each Saturday in January and February o Coaches-Most important need for the season. We need good moms and dads who are willing to get off the sideline and make difference in kids lives.
Page 6 Ministry Expectations for the Family Let me take a moment to suggest some standard recommendations to help your child grow in their spiritual development. I realize that every family is different and that every family s approach to helping their child grow spiritually is different. Some of these standard recommendations will work with your child and some may not apply. Get to bed early on Saturday Treat Sunday like you do other school days. Setting out Sunday clothes on Saturday, taking bathes Saturday night and getting a good nights sleep should be a regular routine for preschoolers and children. ADHD Meds on Sunday If your child is accustom to taking medications to help them pay attention and behave properly at school, then it would be proper to give them the same meds on Sunday. How much more important is it for children to understand the lessons on Sunday and to be well disciplined on Sunday. Regular Attendance It s important that parents make up their minds that every Sunday is the Lord s Day and Sunday s attendance is not optional rather than making that decision each Sunday. Your child should understand that they should be in Sunday School at 9:15 and church every Sunday. Required Attendance Parents should require their child(ren) to attend church. This decision should not be left up to the child to decide. It should not be optional. If left up to the child, most of them would choose not to attend school. Church attendance is so much more important to your child s life than school. 1) We only offer 7 hours of teaching time for your child each week. Every hour is important. 2) The lessons we teach are for life and living. It s applying God s Word to their lives. It s life changing. GodTime Take time to download these short devotional guide for your child. Spend time with your child every evening helping them with GodTime. Parent Cue These cues should help you to discuss the Sunday s lesson. Download these guide each week to help you talk to your child about the sermon. SmartPhone App Load Parent Cue on your SmartPhone for only $1.99. This SmartPhone App will allow you to replay Sunday s videos. It provides videos for DriveTime, discussions for MealTime, and activities for HangTime. It s well worth the oney. Discipleship Training Classes You are strongly encouraged to be involved in these classes. Classes this term have been: Parenting Beyond Your Capacity, Share Jesus without Fear, It s Not Too Late and Embraced by God. I strongly recommend the Parenting Beyond Your Capacity class if we offer it again. Volunteer to help Every family needs to find a way to get involved. At least One Responsibility Parents should find at least one responsibility in the church and specifically in Children s Ministry.