Good Morning Parents! We're getting ready for a great day at KidSong and I hope that your kids are looking forward to it!
    In Togetherland, our young children will discover more about the church's mission to tell the Good News as they learn the Bible story of Peter and John and the lame man at Beautiful Gate, Acts 3:1-10. They'll be practicing telling the Good News to each other, too, and be sure to ask them to use their cards to tell you!
    Their Remember Verse is the same as last week's :"The followers went everywhere in the world and told the Good News to people. And the Lord helped them." Mark 16:20
    Today, Konnect kids will learn about Jeremiah the weeping prophet. After the celebrations last week when Josiah discovered the Book of the Law and read, it will be difficult to hear that God's people did not hold true to the "plumb line" of His Law. We'll be playing Playdoh Pictionary as we read about Jeremiah and the potter's shed, eating Scrabble Cheez-its while we read the acrostic poems that are Lamentations, and make a paper bead "necklace of tears" to remember the consequences of not holding to God's Word as our plumb line.
    The memory verse this week is Joel 2:28 "I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophecy. Your old men will dream dreams and your young men will see visions." We know that God gives us His Spirit to keep us true to Him and to guide us towards God's Big Plan for the world. I am praying that our kids will take this to heart!
    That's it for KidSong, we are about to head to church and celebrate our Great Big God!

Hello Parents!
We are returning to our Konnect and Togetherland programs for the last 6 weeks of the school year, and the KidSong Team is so excited to be back in action!
    This week in Togetherland, we begin teaching our 2-5 year olds about the mission of the church, which is to spread good news! They will experience a "round the world" lesson with games, crafts, and a special parade! The Bible story is from Acts 2, Peter tells the crowd about Jesus. The Bible says that people from all over the world heard Peter's message, and we can share the Gospel with everyone we know!
    The Togetherland Remember Verse this unit is "The followers went everywhere in the world and told the Good News to people. And the Lord helped them." Mark 16:20
    And in Konnect, we jump right in to the Old Testament, with this week's lesson about King Josiah, who finds the book of God's Law and helps his people do what's right. We'll make plumb lines and discover that when we aren't sure what's straight and upright, God's Word is the plumb line of our lives.
    The memory verse this week is "I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line." Isaiah 28:17.
    Be sure to keep encouraging your kids to remember their verses and bring their Bibles to KidSong, those points are racking up and most kids are within a week or two of a goal magnet. I'll send out a letter about those again sometime this week.
    Well that wraps up KidSong sneak peek for this week, can't wait to see you there!

    Hi Parents! This is our final week in the Jonah series, and we have learned a lot about God! We know that God has a plan, God is in control, God hears prayer, and this week, we'll discover that God shows mercy.
    We will explore the concept of mercy and "fairness" in a game of sticker tag where the outcome is a little surprising! Mercy breaks the "rules", it gives favor where none is due. Mercy shows kindness instead of judgement.
    We'll make a great craft to wrap up the series and show all we've learned -a cool text-art map for the elementary group and a sensory map for the preschoolers.
    And of course, we'll have a Dive Deep! Bible story where we hear of Jonah, who was still a little unclear about God's big plan, and how God showed mercy to people all throughout our story.
    Our memory verse this week is "What shall we say then? Is God unfair? Not at all! He says to Moses, ' I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. I will show love to those I love.' So it doesn't depend on what we want or do. It depends on God's mercy." Romans 9:14-16
    I can't wait to Dive Deep and celebrate God's mercy with your children!

    Hello Parents! Today we finally get to the part of the Jonah story kids are most familiar with: Jonah inside the whale. But our story doesn't end there! We are looking at our main point - God hears prayer. God heard the sailors pray on the rough seas, He heard Jonah pray in the belly of the whale, and He heard the people of Nineveh pray in repentance. Wherever you are, whoever you are, God hears prayer.
    We'll be using listening games (like good ol' "Operator", plus some new ones), messages in a bottle, beans in a balloon, hide and seek, crispy treat "sushi", and more as we explore all the times God hears prayer.
    Our memory verse is Psalm 66:19-20, "But God has listened.
      He has heard my prayer. Give praise to God. He has accepted my prayer.
      He has not held his love back from me"
   So excited as we Dive Deep this morning to learn more about who God is!

    As we continue our adventures in discovering God in the story of Jonah, today we will see that "God is in control." We see over and over in the book of Jonah that God was in control of situations as His plan for Nineveh came to pass. He was in control of the wind and the waves (sound familiar?), the ocean, and even the whale! Jonah and the sailors all recognized that God was in control. Many times, kids feel like they are in a situation beyond their control, but knowing that God has a plan (last week) and God is in control (this week) of how that plan happens can give them peace.
    We'll be playing parachute games to mimic the raging seas, and everyone has the same craft today - home made snow globes! There will be goldfish for a snack and gummy fish as a prize. We'll have our special guest Niko the Whale and a way to take offering (coins only please) that makes a splash!
    Our verse today is "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." Romans 8:28
    Can't wait to dive deep and get started!

    Welcome to our submarine, the "Discovery". We'll be boarding her later today to find out what's really in the book of Jonah. Is it actually a book about a guy who gets eaten by a whale? Is the point of the book to obey what God says (even if you have a bad attitude), follow God (when there really is no way out of it) , or stay away from sushi (can you imagine how it smelled in the whale's belly?)?
    No, Jonah is a story about God. We can discover so much about who God is when we carefully read this book. This week, we'll look at the first two verses in the book, that tell us of God sending a warning to Nineveh - stop sinning or be destroyed! In the last two verses, we see why - that God had compassion for the 120,000 people there who did not know right from wrong. He wanted them to repent and follow Him and that's why He went to such lengths to reach them. Our Big Discovery this week is "God has a plan for people". God wants all people, everywhere,  to repent and follow Him. That's how big God's love is!
    Our verse today is 2 Peter 3: 9 "In fact, God is patient, because He wants everyone to turn from sin and no one to be lost." God's plan was to save the people of Nineveh, and His plan is to save us too!
    We'll have some fun today too, with talking whale puppets, all-new worship music, painting, games, and prizes. And yes, we'll even have a clip from the video with the talking vegetables, as they explain God's plan for Nineveh so well. Looking forward to a great week!