Summerfest 2007 - From Acorns to Oaks
Twenty-eight children in grades 1 through 6 attended a musical, drama camp at GSLC the week of August 13 for three hours a day. They presented “Acorns to Oaks”, a musical drama about growing in you faith in Jesus Christ on Sunday, August 19 during the 8:15 and 9:45 services.
These “little acorns” really grew during the week by coming prepared, knowing the songs and their lines, learning motions and dances, memorizing bible verses, and of course having fun. The children really understood the message in “Acorns to Oaks” and learned about harvesting God’s fruit and the parable of the sower and the seed. We had a misguided farm girl, some mischievous crows and nasty rumor weeds that presented some obstacles, but the children learned and presented the message that the best way to produce the fruit God desires is to plant their roots firmly in God’s Word. Our three pastors (The Terminators) helped get the message across by exterminating the rumor weeds. On Sunday our “little acorns” truly were “mighty oaks”. They did a terrific job spreading the fruits of the spirit with their love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
During the week a team of six adults and 15 youth helpers directed the children and organized all the activities. A BIG THANKS to all the leaders, youth helpers and parents for helping to plant the seeds and making the harvest grow.
The service project for Summerfest was collecting food for Urban Ministries and Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s – BackPack Buddies program. BackPack Buddies program provides backpacks filled with child-friendly nutritious food to needy children in our area over the weekend and during holiday breaks. The children brought food during the week of rehearsals and then collected the generous harvest that our congregation brought on Sunday. The food items, which totaled approximately 560 pounds, were split between the two organizations. We received a wonderful note from BackPack Buddies thanking us for our generous donations and saying they will completely fill 35 backpacks for children in need.
Thank you to all who made this production of “Acorns to Oaks” and the week of Summerfest possible.
See More Photos Here.
TBFC Gingerbread House Construction Party
True Believers Friendship Club had it’s annual Gingerbread House making on December 17 in Underwood Hall. We had 50 participants ranging from 3rd thru 5th graders, plus our usual high school helpers and of course those wonderful college helpers who always seem to return to help no matter how many years it has been. Many thanks to Shirley Anthony for making all of the houses for us so we could decorate them so beautifully.
True Believers Friendship Club Pool Party
On August 20th 32 kids and 10 Sr. High school helpers invaded the Riverside Sub Division pool. We consumed 11 pizza's and 48 cupcakes along with lots of fun in the water. What a beautiful day with lots of sun and no rain in sight. Please enjoy the pictures and see how much fun all of us had no matter what are age was. More pictures can be found here.
GSLC Day Camp 2006
Day camp once again was truly an awesome week, filled with lots of love, fun smiles and friendships. We had 50 children attend this year and among those 50, 7 children were from Belarus. Each day was a different experience for all and we were blessed to have such wonderful counselors and volunteers again this year. Please enjoy the pictures with your child/children and let them tell you about their experiences.
More pictures can be found here.
Campo Verano 2006
This year Good Shepherd hosted 33 wonderful children July 17-21 for Campo Verano, our daycamp for Hispanic youth. Counselors from Lutheridge led us in Bible study, arts and crafts, and games. We also were visited by our local firemen, the police with their motorcycles, and horse and K-9 units, and the jump-rope team from Lead Mine Elementary. Plus, we also enjoyed going to the movies, bowling, and splashing our way through Water Day. Thanks to our camp coordinators (Alison Meseck, Laurie O'Connor, Lynn Kern, Jenny Kern, Cathie Strawbridge, Kathy Hrivnak, Pastor Jennifer), our Lutheridge counselors and the many who volunteered time and donations to make our 3rd year of Campo Verano a huge success! More photos of Campo Veranon 2006 can be found here.
True Believer’s Friendship Club Cookout/Bonfire at the Hausfeld’s
What a great time we all had for our first cookout/bonfire for TBFC. With 25 kids hunting eggs with candy, a nature scavenger hunt, making hot dogs over the open fire and of course let us know forget those wonderful smores’s at the end of our time together. Please make sure you check out the pictures to see how much fun all of us had. Special thanks to the Hausfeld’s for their kindness in letting us use their house for our event.
True Believers Friendship Club Sleepover - March 24, 2006
All was quiet at Good Shepherd until 26 3rd thru 5th graders arrived for a night of fun, games and surprises. With the help of 8 high school youth and myself (Barb Newcomer) we made snacks, played games, ate tons of food and watched a movie until 12:30 AM. Perhaps the most fun thing that we did was our traditional toilet paper wrap and then the fight afterwards. Make sure you check out the pictures of this and also take notice of the awesome job they did cleaning up. Finally settling down around 1:00 AM in sleeping bags and with faint whispers, our exciting night was coming to an end. Waking up to fresh Krispy Kreme doughnuts, fresh strawberries, apples and juice our time together was a memorable one for all.
Camp Agape
BYG (Building Youth Groups) weekend for 3rd to 5th graders is a fast growing approach to youth ministry. BYG seeks to build a sense of group unity in 3rd to 5th graders. A BYG weekend is designed to be a focus event for our children including the group leaders from the congregation.
Sixteen youth participated in the weekend along with the Children's Director and two adult chaperones. Our weekend consisted of songs, games, worship, skits, nature time, hiking, campfires, bonding together and great food. Our theme for the weekend was GO FISH - CATCH PEOPLE FOR GOD! Many more photos of the trip are available here.
If you see any of the youth pictured please ask them about their time at Camp Agape so they may share the joys that they received during our time together.