Summer of Weird

We are very close to beginning what we are calling the Summer of Weird here at The Grove. Now some of you in Kidmin may be asking, "What makes this summer more weird than any other summers?" You see all 3 of our major events for the summer all have the theme of...you guessed it, weird.  And  I have to tell you that I am SUPER excited about our Summer of Weird. Here is a run down of what's going on.

Thursday Night Summer Series- Weird Stories of the Bible
During the summer we take a break from our normal AWANA programming and have a special series of lessons. This summer we have asked the different pastors on staff to choose their favorite weird story in the Bible to share with the kids. This excites me first of all because this will give the kids an opportunity to see our pastors in a different way. They will no longer be the men on the stage who are unapproachable. (Though I have to admit our pastors do a good job of trying to be approachable.) I am excited for the kids to be able to hear from each of these men and the lessons be directed completely to them. The second reason I am so excited about this summer series is that it is potentially a great way to reignite the desire in the kids to read their Bibles. At my last church we did a series on the weird stories of the Bible. It came out of a conversation I had with a 6th grade boy who told me that the Bible was boring and he wasn't going to read it because he had heard all of the stories already. I replied asking him if he had ever heard the story of King Eglon, the king who was so fat when he was stabbed the fat rolls swallowed up the sword. (Judges 3:12-31) He replied no, and said he would read the Bible if there were stories in there like that. That is just one example of a child who saw a glimpse of the many stories in the Bible and wanted more. It is my hope that after hearing the stories told in our Weird Stories of the Bible series that it will wet these children's appetite for God's Word. And lets be honest who wouldn't want to take a look at some of the weird things that happened.

Vacation Bible School- Weird Animals
We are doing Group Publishing's Weird Animals vbs this year. I chose this vbs before we came up with the idea for our Summer of Weird simply because I loved what it was teaching the kids. The main message of Weird Animals is that Jesus love is one of a kind. Each day the kids learn that Jesus loves us even in different situations like being afraid, feeling left out, when we don't understand, when we are different, and even when we do wrong. Kids hear so many reasons why they are not good enough, why they are not worthy of love or friendship. But we know the truth, Jesus loves us no matter what, and that is so important for kids to learn. It is so exciting to see that each of these truths are paired with a weird animal in God's creation that exhibit these truths. And it also teaches us that if God loves and accepts all of us, we should then love and accept those around us. I am so excited for another fun filled week of VBS!

Kids Camp- Weird (Because Normal isn't Working)
At our 3 day kids camp this year the kids are learning that living for Christ isn't normal according to the world's perspective. When we live the way God leads us to, people aren't going to understand. Jesus calls us to be different, to stand out, to be holy, to be weird! Over the course of the camp we will be looking at different people in the Bible who chose to follow God and be different, and how we too can follow their example and live the weird life of a Christian.

I know I have said it before but I am so excited for the Summer of Weird and all of the great fun and learning that will be going on here at The Grove. We would love to have you join us. Just give the church office a call and we will give you all the details.

Excited to be Growing at The Grove!!

Miss Megan