Archive for January, 2009

What is an Epic Kid? Why are there so many of them? Will the Epic Kidz take over Pennsylvania, or are they a friendly species?

Epic Kid (defined): Someone, boy or girl, who realizes God has big plans for their life and He’s going to go to epic lengths to get their hearts. An Epic Kid is a creative, energetic, loving individual who likes to sing, dance, and learn about the Bible with their small group leader. (see pictures below)

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Here we see many Epic Kidz in their native habitat. While they look calm, they are ready to jump up and dance around when the music plays!

Bottom line is… our Epic Kidz know how to do two things really well: love God and have fun. Who says you can’t do both at the same time???

::Look like fun? Join us and discover God’s epic story for your life every Sunday at 9:00am & 11:00am at our Clarks Summit or Dickson City campus::

On the fifteenth of May, in the jungle of Nool,
In the heat of the day, in the cool of the pool,
He was splashing…enjoying the jungle’s great joys…
When Horton the elephant heard a small noise.

So Horton stopped splashing. He looked towards the sound.
“That’s funny,” thought Horton. “There’s no one around.”
Then he heard it again! Just a very faint yelp
As if some tiny person were calling for help.
“I’ll help you,” said Horton. “But who are you? Where?”
He looked and he looked. He could see nothing there
But a small speck of dust blowing past though the air.

“I say!” murmured Horton. “I’ve never heard tell
Of a small speck of dust that is able to yell.
So you know what I think?…Why, I think that there must
Be someone on top of that small speck of dust!
Some sort of a creature of very small size,
too small to be seen by an elephant’s eyes…

“…some poor little person who’s shaking with fear
That he’ll blow in the pool! He has no way to steer!
I’ll just have to save him. Because, after all,
A person’s a person, no matter how small.”

——————————

In Dr. Seuss’ book, Horton Hears a Who, we meet an elephant who discovers a tiny universe on a speck. Horton knows that the Who’s are in danger if they keep floating around on a speck, so he begins the journey to find them a safer place to live.

Horton, a very smart elephant, understands the idea of fairness. He valiantly fights for the rights of the Who people on that speck at great danger to himself. When Horton says, “A person is a person, no matter how small” he gives us a great example of our own virtue this month.

Fairness: Making sure that everyone is treated respectfully.

——————————

Each week we’ll unpack a different way of looking at fairness and see what the Bible has to say about it. Here’s a quick look at this month:

February 1st :: Treat everyone fairly because everyone’s important to God.
February 8th :: Treat everyone fairly – even those who are different.
February 15th :: Treat everyone fairly – even your enemies.
February 22nd :: Show God’s love to everyone because He wants everyone to know Him.

We can’t wait to see all of you! Don’t forget our monthly virtue kickoff: KIDZ JAM! Kidz Jam is February 6th at 7:00pm, but doors open at 6:45. Can’t wait to see you there!

We’re not lying… it really will. Let’s break it down: you walk in the door and are greeted by our friendly and efficient Host Team. So far, so good. If you are ages Kindergarten to Fifth grade your parents will take you to the Epic Kidz Only area where you and only you will have front row seats to the main event. And by seats we mean floor. But you’re not on the floor very much. There’s singing, dancing, laughing, and more fun in store! The lights go out… the countdown begins…

:59

:58

….. the anticipation builds until …..

:03

:02

:01

LIGHTS COME UP! CUE MUSIC!

::Yeeeahhh! Let’s get this, get this party started // Get it, get it started right now, come on //
//just dance and sing with us // We’ll show ya how::

Okay, so we’ve done some singing, some dancing, it’s now time for the hosts to come out.
We know ‘em, we love ‘em, it’s Darren and Maj!

Okay, not quite, but you’re getting the idea.

This is more like it:

There we are… Darren and Maj. They come out and introduce the virtue which, by the way, pops out of a box like MAGIC! (Well, not so much magic as meticulously arranged metal parts that expand to raise the sign up and, well, you get where I’m going with this…)

Ahem. So they come out and Maj will usually clown around and Darren will try to keep some order (ha!) then they go backstage to solve whatever trouble Maj has caused.

CUE ACTORS!

Whether it’s Gordo, Vinny, Sam, Cammie, Grandpa Henry, Kit, Tyler, Todd, Mrs. F, or Brad, you are guaranteed a good time. Who would have thought that you could learn about the REAL Christmas story from an angel who shows up during a power outage? And who would’ve thought that pigs could teach kids how to be resourceful!?!? Who can forget Gordo dressed in a muumuu teaching us about gratitude!

But the show moves on to The Word. The Word? Well, crazy kids, that where we learn about how all this insanity is backed up by the Bible. Wait, you’re asking yourself… did I hear right? Does the Bible talk about angels appearing in power outages, resourceful pigs, and Gordo in a muumuu? What kind of a program is this???

Well, the Bible doesn’t put it that way exactly but it does talk about the angel appearing to the most unlikely of people to tell of a newborn King, prophesied to come. And while the Bible doesn’t list pigs as the #1 resourceful animal, it does talk about a king who used what he had to get the job done. His job was to build up walls around his city to protect it, but he could only do so much. That’s when he trusted God to do the rest. And the Bible doesn’t exactly talk about boys in muumuu’s, but it does talk about one grateful leper out of many, the only one to turn back to say thank you. Get it? You can always count on God’s Word to draw out the plan for your life, whether we use guys in muumuu’s, resourceful pig-catchers, a whole crew of sheep, Jedi’s, soldiers, and Scoop Shovel. Bottom line is, this is a fun way to show just how much God loves all of us.

As much as I’d like to give everything away, I’m afraid Kidz Jam is something you’ll just have to see for yourself. No spoilers here, not today. Well, okay, maybe just a few.

::*Spoiler Alert!*::
~ REALLY awesome new opening song!
~ Darren and Maj aren’t exactly on speaking terms
~ Cammie’s back!
~ The first 10 digits of pi are: 3.141592653

Okay, that’s it. For the rest of it, and to find out what in the world all this means, come to Kidz Jam, February 6th! Doors open at 6:45pm.