Pastor Greg and DeAnna Jones and the Children’s Ministry Team are celebrating a magnificent year of ministry. Greg and DeAnna are energetically pursuing the work of our Lord in children’s lives today. Following is their annual report of God’s faithfulness.
Early Education – FY 2011
Early Education at MCA consists of our Nursery Ministry (Birth – 35 months) and our Preschool Ministry (Ages 3 through 5 years old). These two ministries provide age appropriate ministry for children whose parents are attending one of the MCA Venues. Pastor Greg Jones leads and coordinates both. Each area has gone through a period of upgrade and transition with Pastor Greg and DeAnna’s arrival in December 2011.
Nursery Highlights
*The nursery was relocated from inside the CMC back to the original location in room 163. With a remodel of the nursing mother’s room and some new bright colored foam flooring our nursery is more child/parent friendly and easier to access.
*This year we began a ministry entitled “Grandparent Ministry.” This idea evolved from the thought that several of our families are separated by a lot of miles from grandparents and what a rich blessing it is when grandparents can be a part of a young child’s life. Those serving in the grandparent ministry are in the room in addition to our regularly scheduled volunteers and are there to hold and love on the young children. They are extra loving hands when the room is packed and provide comfort to all. We are thankful for Larry and Liz Dotson who have championed this team and recently Gary and Faith Greenland. You guys rock! If you would like to know more and are interested, please see Pastor Greg.
* We have approximately 22 volunteers that serve monthly and would be pleased to offer other approved members the opportunity to be part of such a great ministry.
Preschool Highlights
*This past year has seen several changes in our preschool ministry. When the nursery moved it caused a domino effect for the preschool class that was being held in room 163. We relocated those kiddos up the stairs to rooms 270 & 271.
*We have purchased a new curriculum that will start on February 3rd and believe it will be a powerful teaching on the “Big God Story”, Genesis through Revelation in chronological order. Parental roles are highlighted greatly as primary developer of their children’s spiritual development.
Goals for Early Education Department – FY 2011
*Continue to teach foundational truths in each ministry setting in an age appropriate way with God being at the center of each teaching.
*Appoint a Preschool Ministry Coordinator and Nursery Coordinator.
*Provide training/team meetings as needed to develop/mentor volunteers.
*Provide opportunities to new volunteers in both ministry areas.
Elementary Ministries Department – FY 2011
The Elementary Ministries Department ministers to children in Grades Kindergarten – 5th grade. As mentioned in the Early Education report, we have purchased new curriculum for our Elementary age as well. The focus is to teach God’s word as “The Big God Story.” Every year we will cover the entire Bible from Genesis through Revelation in chronological order. The teaching has God as the main character in every week’s lesson rather than teaching on particular topical subjects. This is a very parent friendly curriculum with many take home tools available to assist parents as the primary role in the spiritual development of their children.
Sunday Morning—29 Eleven Kids (9:15 am and 11:15 am)
29 Eleven Kids is our children’s corporate worship setting. Each Sunday the children are actively involved in worship and prayer (both for individual needs and the needs of others Our kids are growing in their faith! This year we added a prayer/blessing wall for our kids to have an opportunity to respond to God in a new way much like how we can respond in the Live services by presenting our needs to God on the crosses. This addition has been a huge blessing and has given the kids the freedom to express their hearts in a powerful way. These needs are passed along to our elementary prayer team to help pray for each and every request. Several children accepted Christ and were baptized this year!
Boys and Girls Missionary Challenge
We regularly teach and discuss the importance of BGMC and it helps our kids see the needs of people around the world and provides them the opportunity to give. This year we had one of our very own Alaska Missionary couples, Lattis and Sharlotte Campbell come to discuss the importance of giving to BGMC and how it has impacted their ministry over the years.
Kid’s In Training (KIT Team)
KIT Team is our ministry team for children. This group meets each Monday evening led by Peggy Crowe and Janelle Crowe. They concentrate on personal discipleship and ministry training. Ministry opportunities this year included: FaDazzle Wazzle, an evening trip to Matanuska Assembly of God for a kids ministry launch event where the team was featured and our annual Christmas activities. We will be going on a KIT Team mission trip in March of this year to Kodiak, Alaska. Many thanks to Peggy and Janelle for your hard work.
Way Cool Wednesdays
Our Wednesday night programs were reworked some while continuing to utilize the Ranger and Mpact Curriculums. The name chosen for this year was “Way Cool Wednesday’s.” This curriculum provides important discipleship component for our boys and girls grades 3 – 5. Christi Parkinson led our girls program and Chuck Niemann led the boys. The children work each week on various badges and study basic doctrines of the faith. Activities this year included our annual pinewood derby, Chili fest, Camp-In, Pow-Wow, and Rake-a-thon. (A twist off the previous Trash-a-thon) In May we had our awards ceremony and invited all of our parents to come and see their children receive their awards.
Summer 2011
This summer at MCA our programming on Wed. night was “Summer Sports Camp.” We had a great time with the kids and a big part of the fun was being able to walk to one of our local parks to play. We enjoyed playing soccer, catching and hitting the baseball, playing on the playground equipment and a few other fun sports related activities. We sang and prayed together and studied how some of the same disciplines used in sports we can use in our life with Christ. It wasn’t the sunniest summer I’ve ever experienced in Alaska but we all had a blast together.
We offered two weeks of Kid’s Camp this year for our students, one for younger kids and one for older. This coming year we are planning a huge camp trip by combining our kids for one week and look forward to us all being together as a big and joyful mca church kids family. Our summer camps are always very impacting for the children spiritually, emotionally and physically! Our volunteers always have a blast and come away from the experience with changed lives too. God is good!
Miscellaneous Activities and Outreaches During FY 2011
This year we had several seasonal outreaches for our kids to participate in. We had a Back to School Bash, FaDazzle Wazzle, 4th of July Celebration, Christmas activities and the Holy Spirit Conference for Kids. Our outreach events (FaDazzle Wazzle, Fourth of July and HGHF) were key events focused on reaching our local neighborhoods and city.
Goals for FY 2012—Elementary Education Department
1. Continue to provide quality, age appropriate programming for elementary age students. This includes evaluating and restructuring programs as needed.
2. Provide opportunity for approved caring and loving adult volunteers to work with students in every area of ministry. Mentor and train those who feel called into ministry.
3. Train and equip new volunteers for the ministry area they are to be involved in. Meet as needed for planning of events and programming.
4. Continue our partnership with an area school. Be a blessing to the school and develop a programs we can do within the school to reach and be a blessing to the children and families there.
5. Continue with the great success of restructuring and developing our Wednesday night program for children. Continue with deeper discipleship through our co-ed program Royal Rangers and Mpact. Develop relationships with neighborhood kids and their families.
DeAnna and I are excited to be here and we want to say how much we appreciate how each one of you have welcomed us back to our mca church family. We appreciate all our volunteers and the time you commit to serve and love working with the children of our church and community. We are honored to be your Children’s Pastors.
Respectfully submitted,
Greg Jones
Children’s Pastor