Narnia Disappointment

It seems that the current economic slow-down / crisis may affect the planned next 5 Narnia movies.  As I was catching up on my blog reading this morning I was disappointed to learn that Disney has pulled away from Walden Media, and will no longer be co-financing the Narnia franchise.  Personally, I did not have found Prince Caspian as engaging as the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.  However, I was really looking forward to the rest of the series, especially to book seven - an how that might have been rendered in film.

Roller Coasters & Hosea

The following is an excerpt from my message at New Minas Baptist Church last Sunday:

Hosea was a prophet of God – a prophet is someone who brings God’s message to the people.  Normally prophets would bring God’s message through their words. However, God chose to use Hosea’s life and marriage to convey a message in a very visual illustration.  God, through Hosea’s wife and children, painted a picture of the state of the relationship between God and Israel.  

That relationship was an up and down relationship.  Throughout their history, Israel had alternated between closely following God and meandering away from him and toward other gods.  Through Hosea, God told Israel that because of their constant prostitution of themselves that there would be significant consequences.  However, God also declared [Hosea 2:14-23] that his willingness to receive them back would not change.

As we begin 2009 my desire is to no longer have a roller coaster of a relationship with God.  I want to earnestly seek him and stop prostituting myself to other gods.  For us all we must remember, that God will restore us when we return and seek him.

Christmas Quiz

On Sunday past I was filling in as a small group leader [Sunday school teacher type] for both the grade 3/4 boys and the grade 3/4 girls.  Normally I don't lead either group, but being the Christmas season, both regular leaders were away.

The theme for the morning, from Faith Weaver [our curriculem], was Jesus is Born.  Not that the Christmas story isn't engaging, but at grade 3/4 a group of mostly church kids already have heard the story.  As I was getting ready I decided to do something different.

I divided the group into two [guys on one side, girls on the other, of course] and told them that they had 10 minutes to work as a group to create 10 questions about Luke chapters 1 & 2.  The questions they created would be asked by them to the other team, and the goal was to stump the other team.  The questions were quite funny - the girls focused on mostly details about angels, Mary, and the time of Elizabeth's pregnancy.  The guys were more abstract.  In all the idea worked perfectly, the kids had a lot of fun, and learned, I think, the point.

[Note: The photo on this post are the questions that the guys created.  To read it in a bigger size, click here.]

Winter Concert

Monday night was the "Winter Concert" at New Minas Elementary.  The concert was really well put together and the children sang well, the songs were well chosen for the setting and were fun.

The part that was sad for me was seeing a crowded room and several hundred children all celebrating the Holiday of Christmas instead of the Birthday of Christmas.  The whole night, while a great presentation, reminded me first hand of what is so frequently missing from this season.

That said, like every other parent in the room, I enjoyed seeing my children on stage singing.  I joined the paparazzi near the front and took video of the songs our children sang.  Video below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EttNXF5523E]

Children's Artwork

Our children are prolific creators of 'art.'  I know that this is not a gene that they have inherited from me, it must be from Sharalyn [who has created a toll painted village this Christmas].  They color, draw, cut, glue, and create wild inventions from paper [and the recycling boxes in general] constantly.  We often have so many creations on our fridge that they are layered one on top of another.

A little while ago I started scanning the pictures.  It allows me to share them on facebook, which is fun, and also allows for not all of them to stay forever.  We do save the best or more meaning filled.

I have to say, that of all the things that they could spend their time with, we are very blessed to have creative children. I have created a new section on our blogs while provides links to the facebook albums of their artwork: Click Here.

Christmas Service

Each year as a part of Solid Rock Youth we have two Christmas service projects.

The first is a free babysitting event.  We have students come to the church from 845am - 1230pm and look after children.  Parents from our church drop off their children for that time and get a morning out to shop or have coffee [or sleep].  This year there were nearly 20 students and almost 50 children.  It was a great event!

The second event is the SRY Seniors Christmas Dinner. Each year we have students plan, prepare, and serve a Christmas turkey dinner to the seniros from our church.  This year there were roughly 20 studnets and 10 adults who served and over 80 seniors in attendance!  We had students sing, play fiddle and harmonica, and serve the dinner.  Again, it was a great event!

What Christmas youth ministry events do you do?

From All of Us to All of you

Feliz Navidad! | From the Kids (being encouraged to share about their year with you):

Caleb: “I have a new teacher at school. I’ve gone from ‘I’ Books to ‘L’ books. We have an advent calendar, we have our stockings up… and we have three new video games. My favorite video games are ‘the Incredibles’ and ‘Mario Party 7.’ I got new Lego for my birthday. We have our tree up. I’ve made new friends at school.”

Katie: “I go to school. I have a good teacher. I like to play with my brothers. I love my family. I like my friends and their moms and dads. I’m excited about Christmas because we celebrate that Jesus is born. I liked Caleb’s birthday because it was a special day. We got to have ice cream. I liked that my aunts visited. I like to go to school. I like that Caleb’s at school with me. I like that Reuben is three now. I like that Jordan is a baby and I like to play with him. I like that our Christmas tree is up. We have our stockings up, and we have our advent calendar with candy and verses. I like that the Christmas ornaments are up. I like the video games. I like my stocking. I like to watch tv. I like to play on the computer. I like to read books. I like to cuddle with my Mom and Dad. I like to have a wrestling match with my brothers and Dad. I like that the star is on the tree. I like to play with toys and Pollys. I like my cat. I like all my necklaces. I like the pictures on the wall. I watched ‘WallE’ before. I like to play downstairs.”

Reuben: declines comment

Jordan: “No…” and something about “doggies”

Sharalyn: “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” The kids have been very excited about decorating for Christmas, making Christmas crafts, playing in the snow (when we have some), and Jordan is especially excited about pulling ornaments off the tree and running off with them.

As the year draws to an end, it’s a good time to reflect on what’s happened in 2008. (And it’s funny that, while being a good time for reflection, the mind tends to draw a blank as Katie screams something about the havoc the younger boys are creating in the next room).

Caleb has just turned 7, is in grade 1, loves his teacher, and has become an expert on all things. He is enjoying school (despite his comments to the contrary) and his reading has improved tremendously this year. He especially enjoys the “Magic Treehouse” books- evident in the fact that we found him reading in our bathroom at 5 am- and takes great pride in that he now reads chapter books. He is constantly thinking, creating, and plotting- and seems to identify with pirates at the moment.

Katie, 5 years old, is eager to let everyone know that she is now in school. She loves it and loves her teacher. She stays after school once a week at the “After the Bell” program (just playing games) and would probably choose to stay late every day given the option. She loves the social life and we scratch our heads wondering how we ever produced such a girly girl- it’s all about the dresses and the hair… she decorated her lips with marker, not being permitted lipstick. She’s made lots of new friends this year, though she sometimes struggles to recall their names. She loves to play “mama” to the boys and to her “babies,” and is actually quite effective in the role and a great help.

Reuben, 3, is very active and energetic, not to mention creative. His list of achievements include flushing the bathtub plug down the toilet (resulting in the purchase of a new toilet); repeat episodes of dumping baby powder, soap, toothpaste, coffee, etc., all over the floor; and “sledding” down the stairs in a laundry basket. We have endeavored to channel some of this “creative energy” by enrolling Reuben in a soccer program. Although he enjoys soccer, he tells us every week that he wishes the teacher wasn’t there.

Jordan, at 18 months, appears to be following closely in Reuben’s footsteps: very affectionate at one moment, aggressive the next. He enjoys “performing,” always looking to see who’s watching him as he takes a fall on purpose, dances (spinning around until he stumbles everywhere) and “sings” (he’s also becoming quite the pianist). It’s been a “whole new world” (as it always is) since Jordan started walking (while Jon was in the Czech Republic this summer) and is now climbing everywhere. He loves animals and is just beginning to accept that they have names other than “doggy.”

It’s been a busy year filled with excitement and new challenges in our ministry at New Minas Baptist Church, especially with the completion and opening of the new expansion of the church. God has been challenging us in the way that we minister to families and children, and we’re looking forward to even greater opportunities in our church and community as we enter our fifth year here. God has been so faithful and our family has been blessed to be part of a growing community of faith (and also blessed to be able to contribute numerically to that growth with the birth of our fifth child in February).

As we reflect on the challenges that we’ve had this year, and on the challenges that we face in the new year, we are so thankful to be able to celebrate Christmas and the coming of Emmanuel: “God with us”- we are not alone and nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ. That news is just as incredibly good today as it was to the shepherds over two thousand years ago. We hope that you and your families will have a wonderful time of celebration this Christmas.

Love, the Dixon clan

Watch for the Violinist

Last night at Solid Rock Youth we finished a series that we had called Vintage Jesus.  This series was based loosely on Mark Driscoll's book / sermon series / video curriculem with the same title.  It was a hard series for us as it frustrated some of our students because of how basic it was in some ways.

This year [2008-2009] we have a 3 part plan.  The fall was to be spent aiming at an answer to the question: Who is Jesus? The winter until March Break is intended to be all about the question: What did Jesus Do? The Spring until after Easter will be geared toward the question: What did Jesus Say?

Last summer, when I was in Germany I was moved to tears by God as I wrestled with my own questions about what to teach at Solid Rock Youth this year.  I struggled with my then current goal of teaching Christian Character traits to our students.  I feel strongly that God spoke to me, saying that unless students are in love with Jesus, they will never be able to follow him.  In other words, the character traits series will have no real impact on students who are not completely in love with Jesus.

At the end of this fall's series, we've covered a lot of very basic theology about Jesus - that he is God, that he created the world, that he was prophesied about in the Old Testament, that he came as a baby, that he died, rose again, and has since become the most significant figure in all of world history.  As much as it was at times frustrating to teach through this basic [at least on the surface level] series about Jesus, I know that it has been beneficial.

To conclude the series last night I deviated [again] from Driscoll's material and went a different direction with the help of Jonathan McKee [The Source4YM].  I taught John 1:1-14 through the story about a man named Josh Bell, a violinist.  Josh usually plays spots like Carnegie Hall, but one time, as covered in the Washington Post,  in early 2007 he played instead in the entryway to something that appears like an average train or bus station.  Over 1000 people passed by without stopping the artist who had evenings before garnered $100 a ticket for a standing room only audience.  I showed a video [below] of his Washington train station performance, and challenged our students [and me] that we are usually more like those who passed by than we are like those who stopped with it comes to Jesus.

Jesus, I'm afraid, for many of us church folks, is so familiar that he is no longer really noticed.  We are so used to the contents of our own heads about him, that we have ceased to be inspired and moved by his words and deeds.

During 2009 our goal is to re-inspire our students by Jesus.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnOPu0_YWhw]

Preteen James

Preteen ministry has been something of a trial by fire learning experience for me.  There aren't a lot of books out there on preteen ministry and those that do exist don't seem to fit our context here in the valley all that well.  We began a preteen ministry more or less by accident [a story for another time] and have moved on from there.  We began a regular mid-week group with 6 students about 2.5 years ago and not have a regular attendance of around 30.  Preteen for us means students in grades 5 & 6.  We've named our preteen ministry Morphoo.

This fall our Morphoo group have been working through the letter of James in the Bible.  Each week we've tackled a different section, and we've now finished the letter.  I've been writing the material for the small groups, partly because we couldn't find what we were looking for, and party because by doing so I had to work harder to learn what connects with preteen students.  I've been learning, some weeks have been better than others, and I think we've done justice to the letter of James.  Its a great letter.

Because I believe in the concept of Open Source [software, and everything else for that matter] I'm posting the material that we created.  Each week is in a different PDF file.  Feel free to use it as you want; I only ask that you let me know if you do.  Bless Him!

[Download Here]

Christmas in the Orchard

Last evening was the annual children's ministry Christmas concert at our church.  We call is Christmas in the Orchard.

Each year we attempt to present something a little different.  Three years ago we celebrated with a look at the traditional shepherds and wiseman and then some suggestions of what out lives would be like if we lived their roles out.  Two years ago we celebrated with a birthday party, complete with cake & puppets [thanks, Chris!].  Last year was a 'traditional Christmas concert' in all senses of the word.

This year I wrote a script which took us back to Genesis, and allows us to present Jesus as God's plan for salvation.  We had guest appearences by Adam, Eve & a Serpent, as well as Mary & Joseph.  The event began with the Sprouts [preschool] children 'singing' two songs.  We then transitioned into the scripted presentation by the children of The Orchard [grade primary - 4].  The children sang 4 songs [God's Love is Big, Born in Bethlehem, Shepherd's Celebration, and King of Majesty], their were 5 readers, and a living room acting scene.

All in all, it was a good night.  These things never go as planned, and there are always special gifts by children who choose to do something unscripted [2 years ago Katie flashed the audience repeatedly by lifting her dress above her head].  The highlight for me, as always, is seeing so many family & friends who are not regular attenders of our church.  I have come to see this event as an important connection to the family and extended family of the children we serve each Sunday.  Well done, kids!

Many thanks to the leaders who take on extra responsibilities over their usual roles in Sprouts and the Orchard to make this event a success.  Thanks to Mark, Dave & Sara, Jennifer, Shannon, Lori & Neil, Sharalyn, and Bonnie [& everyone else who helped!]

For those who are interested, I've posted the script online [download in PDF] and we'll have video later this week.

[Photo Credit: Lindsay Fowler]