December Info

Awana Church Attendance Award Papers

I apologize for any confusion to those who have taken a church attendance award paper and couldn't understand the dates.

I'm not sure what I was thinking when I made them, but I've just noticed that they had Wed night dates on them, NOT Sunday dates.

If you would, just mark these dates on your paper:

top portion:
01/01/12                   03/04/12
01/08/12                   03/11/12
01/15/12                   03/18/12
01/22/12                   03/25/12
01/29/12                   04/01/12
02/05/12                   04/08/12
02/12/12                   04/15/12
02/19/12                   04/22/12
02/26/12

bottom portion:
09/04/11                   11/06/11
09/11/11                   11/13/11
09/18/11                   11/20/11
09/25/11                   11/27/11
10/02/11                   12/04/11
10/09/11                   12/11/11
10/16/11                   12/18/11
10/23/11                   12/25/11
10/30/11

Sorry Again!
Peace, Love, & Joy,
Shanda Venditto
Awana Secretary

13 Ideas to Get Your Child Excited About Serving Others

13 Ideas to Get Your Child Excited About Serving Others

October 1st, 2011

“Mom, it’s Emily’s turn to feed the dog!”
“I don’t want to take out the garbage.”
“Why do I have to help Julie get her shoes on?”
Have you ever heard statements like these in your house?
Teaching our kids why it’s important to serve others is a challenging task for us as parents. We are born with a selfish nature. Our inward focus on ourselves often prohibits us from seeing the needs of others.
But God’s plan is different. He sent His Son to teach us a new way: For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)
 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” (Mark 9:35)
So how can our kids become more like Jesus and begin to serve others? Perhaps these ideas will provide some helpful next steps:
Serve in the home

•  Model a servant’s spirit to your kids. If they see you complaining or grumbling about serving a family member or friend, what lesson will they learn?

•  Daily chores provide ongoing service opportunities for your kids. Things like setting the table and emptying the dishwasher are small acts of service that make a difference in family life.

•  Challenge your kids to show random acts of kindness to their siblings without being asked. Praise them when you catch them in the act!

Serve at your church

•  Volunteer to serve as a family in your church in the nursery or as greeters. If you’re a musical family, offer to sing or play an instrument during a weekend service.

•  Bring a meal to a new mom in your church or someone just home from the hospital. Read Galatians 6:10 and talk about what it means to serve others in need.

•  If your kids are old enough and have trusted Christ for salvation, teach them about spiritual gifts. Explain how they can use their gifts to build the body of Christ. Read Bible verses about spiritual gifts.

 Serve the community

•  Participate in community-wide food drives. Collect food and help stock food pantry shelves.

•  If a family member has recently battled an illness or disease, encourage your child to raise money for research or other fundraising activities.

•  Reach out to neighbors. Rake leaves, make cookies, invite them to your church or Awana ministry or have them over for dinner. Make sure the kids play a big part in this outreach.

•  Take your children with you to a nursing home. Bring pictures or cards or other small gifts to share with residents.

Serve the world

•  God commands that we show compassion and care to those in need. World Vision  has a helpful list of verses to read together as a family.

•  Participate in your Awana ministry to reach kids around the world through Adopt-a-Club.

•  Sponsor an international child through a child advocacy agency like Compassion. Pray for your sponsored child every night at dinnertime. Send notes of encouragement. Challenge your children to raise money for their overseas friend.

Additional Bible verses on serving:
Deuteronomy 10:12
Joshua 22:5
Joshua 24:15
Matthew 20:26-28
Romans 12:11
Ephesians 4:12
Ephesians 6:7
Philippians 2:5-11
Colossians 3:23-24

Taken from http://parenthelps.awana.org/

T&T Grand Prix

Family Fall Fun Fest!

Come One, Come ALL! Grace Fellowship's Family Fall Fun Fest is this Wednesday night, September 28th from 6:00pm-8:30pm. There will be food to purchase (pizza, funnel cakes, cotton candy, etc.), free games for the kids (w/ prizes!), face painting, a bounce house for the younger kids, a Rockin' Youth Band performance and tons of fun! We will have an Awana table for our clubbers to come sign in and say verses if they want.

We look forward to seeing you there!

September 2011 Calendar

Awana September 2011 Calendar CANS FOR CHRIST KICKOFF!!  This whole Awana year, please bring ALL of your aluminum cans to our club for our Awana Missionaries. We know times are tight and this small token can help them so much! 7th - Regular Night 14th - Commander Mark's Mystery Night - It's a Mystery! :) 17th - Movie Night  - Youth wing 6p-9p. Come out for Fun, Games, Snacks, Prizes and a great movie, 'RIO'! 21st - PJ Night - That's right.... wear your PJ's to club! (Older kids, please keep your pj's modest!) 28th - Family Fall Fun Fest - This is not a typical club night. The church is holding a Fun Fest downstairs in the Great Room from 6p-8:30p. All Families and family members are invited out for a night of fun, games, music, prizes, & food - all carnival style. Since this is not a typical club night, please do not drop your child off. This is a family event and adults must stay with their children. We will have an Awana booth for ALL kids to 'check in' at and if they are interested in saying sections that night, there will be leaders available to listen. All Awana information can be found on our website www.grace-fellowship.net/awana Registration Forms Price List Blog Entries - Monthly Calendars          Check out our Blog at http://1gfawana.blogspot.com/  - Make sure to 'follow' us so you can get up to date info when we post it!  Don't forget.... All children K-12th grade and Leaders/Directors must sign in each Wednesday night via the kiosks downstairs! Thanks so much for your due diligence with this! Sincerely, Grace Fellowship's Awana Club

Grace Fellowship / 1405 Seven Valleys Road / York, Pennsylvania 17408 / 717.792.6060

TWO IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES!!

Welcome back Clubbers!

There are two important dates coming up soon in our Awana calendar.  The first is our annual Movie Night.  This will be hold on Saturday, September 17th from 6 to 9 pm.  Our feature film this year will be 'Rio'.  We will have some games, snacks, door prizes and fun!  All clubbers, their families, and friends are invited.  It is open to the entire church family. 

The second important date is the Family Fun Fest!  It will be held on Wednesday, September 28th from 6:00 to 8:30 pm in the lower level of the church.  There will be games, informational tables, snacks and fun!  Awana will not be held in its usual manner.  This will allow the clubbers and their families to participate in the fun events!  All clubbers will still have the opportunity to recite verses at the Awana booth.  Bring your families and friends for a night of exciting fun!

We will see you all there!

In His service,
Commander Mark

!!!OPENING NIGHT!!!

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2011

It's already here ~ the first night of the 2011-2012 club year! We are so excited to see those of you who are Returning and those of you who are New to our club!! We have so many fun things planned for our year.

If you haven't registered yet, you still have time... But I warn you, the first night is a super busy night! There WILL be a long line at the office. Maybe next year you'll consider registering on one of our 4 pre-register dates so you don't have to stand in that long line! ;)

Stay tuned for all the cool stuff that we have planned. I'll be posting our monthly calendar here on our blog and e-blasting it each month too. Our price list and 2011-2012 year calendar is on the Grace Fellowship website. Just go to www.grace-fellowship.net/awana  and look in the top left corner for the AWANA Download Center.

Welcome again! We can't wait "to reach boys and girls with the gospel of Christ and train them to serve Him"!

Welcome to the 2011/2012 Awana Year!!

Upcoming Schedule of Events  & Important Information
Welcome to the 2011/2012 start to Awana! Please make sure to read through to the end of this newsletter! We hope you will pass this information on to your family, friends, & neighbors!

Important Information

Awana Keep a look out for the yearly calendar and monthly club updates on www.grace-fellowship.net We have a new procedure this year. You may either print out a new registration form from the website or see me at any of the pre-registration dates to LOOK over last years form and make any necessary corrections. If you decide to print out a new form, you must bring it with you to one of the pre-registration dates (preferably) or the first night of club, Wednesday, August 31.

Pre-Registration Dates

August 2011 Location: Kidz Central Office Downstairs Sun. Aug. 14 - 8:45am-9:30am & 10:15am-11am Wed. Aug. 17 - 6:45pm-8:00pm Sun. Aug. 21 - 8:45am-9:30am & 10:15am-11am Sun. Aug. 28 - 8:45am-9:30am & 10:15am-11am

More Important Information...

Awana We are in need of Parent Volunteers and LIT's (Leaders in Training). LIT's need to have been previous Awana members and willing to work in the 'next' handbook while volunteering. Parent Volunteer needs for this year: Puggles - at least 2  Cubbies - at least 3 Sparks - at least 2 T&T 56 Girls - at least 2  T&T Boys - at least 3 T&T Store - at least 3 Adult Game Helpers   LIT Volunteer needs for this year: Puggles Cubbies Sparks Please contact Shanda Venditto 717-515-1792 with your interest and she will put you in contact with the right person!

March Events

     Spring is almost here!  Most of the snow is gone, we have had a warm days to brighten us up.  We are quickly getting close to our last quarter of the Awana year.  March is going to be a very busy month in our clubs.  The Puggles and Cubbies have a lot of exciting events coming up.  Please see Mindy Ott for Puggles and Gina or Brian Kelly for Cubbies activities.  Coming to a Sparks and T&T club room on March 2nd are the preliminaries for the Awana's Got Talent.  The Sparks sailboat kits go on sale this night too.  On March 6th our Sparks-A-Rama and T&T AwanaGames teams practice from 12:30 to 2:30 pm in the Great Room.  March 9th will be our finals for the Awana's Got Talent.  Parents and families are invited to the Great Room to be our audience.  On March 12th will be our Sparks-A-Rama at 1:15 pm and the T&T AwanaGames at 2:30 pm in the gym at Mt. Calvary Church in Elizabethtown, PA.  We ask that team players and coaches be there at least one hour before the event starts.  March 16th  will be the night of Mark's Madness.  This will be a joint Counsel Time for the T&T.  Then on March 23rd, we will hold our annual Sparks Boat Race.  Parents and families are invited to cheer on the Sparkie sailors.  See the Awana office for starting times.  The Sparks Boat Race will be held in the Great Room.  The month will end will a Regular Night on March 30th.  Several clubbers are either finished with their handbooks or close to finishing, so they along with the leaders and all the other clubbers can work on Truth Scripts.  This year's verses come from I John 1:1-10.  This is open to all clubbers and leaders.  Let's go out and have a great month!

In His service,
Commander Mark

Awana Bible Quizzing Results

     On a moderately windy but sunny winter day of February 12, 2011, 21 T&T clubbers along with their coaches, parents, grandparents, families and friends headed to Hope Community Church in the small town of Mt. Joy, PA for the annual Awana Bible Quizzing.  They had worked hard, studied hard, practiced hard and prayed hard for this day.  They were confident in their abilities but not boastful, humble but not full of pride, and hopeful, but not full of fear.  They were ready to test their knowledge of the T&T Ultimate Adventure Books One and Two (3rd/4th grades) and the T&T Ultimate Challenge Books One and Two (5th/6th grades).  Grace Fellowship's Awana Clubs had a total of 8 teams represented among the four books.  There were six other churches with teams representing the same books too.  After the opening ceremony, the clubbers started with Paddle Round. (Each clubber has a set of paddles with an A, B, or C on it.)  They are asked ten multiple choice questions of which they are to hold up the paddle corresponding to the best answer at given time.  This round went on for all four books.  There were several of our clubbers to get all ten questions correct.  The next round was the Written Test.  The clubbers went to separate classrooms for representing each book to be given a written test of 20 questions.  Only testing mediators were allowed in the rooms with the clubbers.  The last round was the Speed Quiz.  In this round the clubbers were again divided into five groups representing the four books.  Each clubber held a buzzer (like the ones on Jeopardy) and when the question was read they tried to be the first clubber to buzz in.  They were given ten questions to answer.  If a question was answered incorrectly, the next clubber to buzz in was given a opportunity to answer it.  All our clubber did great in this area.  If a clubber got any three of the ten questions right, this was known as quizzed out.  These clubbers earned bonus points for their team.  We had several clubbers who quizzed out.  In Ultimate Adventure Book One Olivia Gemma and Cameron Lauer quizzed out.  In Ultimate Adventure Book Two Adam Rauhauser and Rachel Toomey quizzed out.  In Ultimate Challenge Book Two Amanda Leckrone quizzed out.  At the end of the morning the final quizzing results were given.  The results were:
Ultimate Adventure Book One Group A - 1st Place Team of Cameron Lauer, Nathaniel Elrod and Joseph Keeports; Coach Theresa Gottshall
Ultimate Adventure Book One Group B - 1st Place Team of Joy Kelly, Olivia Gemma and Michal Treadwell; Coach Theresa Gottshall
Ultimate Adventure Book Two - 1st Place Team of Adam Rauhauser and Mollie Leckrone; 2nd Place Team of Rachel Toomey and Jacob Heasley; Coach Wayne Rauhauser
Ultimate Challenge Book One - 1st Place Team of Christian Lauer, Peter Keeports and Jackie Arnold; 2nd Place Team of Aimee Kallstrom and Victoria Krout; and 3rd Place Team of Katie Breom, Kyra Smith and Laura Willis; Coach Julie Lauer
Ultimate Challenge Book Two - 1st Place Team of Maelyn Elder, Amanda Leckrone and Natashia Tomes; Coach Elaine Willis and Overall Coach Jim Gottshall
The Individual Top Awards were:
Adventure Book One Group A Quiz Champion (all questions right in all catergories) - Cameron Lauer
Adventure Book One Group B Highest Honor (highest scorer in this book) - Joy Kelly
Adventure Book Two Quiz Champion - Adam Rauhauser
Challenge Book One Highest Honor - Aimee Kallstrom and Christian Lauer
Congratulations to all 21 winning clubbers and all the coaches for a great day.  A very special thank goes to our two scorekeepers representing Grace Fellowship, Gayle Brown and Bobby Elrod.  The most important thing about it is, it is all for God's glory.  May God continue to bless these clubbers and their coaches.  The next time you see these clubbers congratulate them for their efforts.  Thank everyone for supporting us.

In His service,
Commander Mark Adams

February Events

     Greetings clubbers, parents, leaders and friends!  This month may be cold and snowy, but our hearts are warm with love of Jesus.  February started off with our Groundhog Day Night.  Clubbers learned about its history, the groundhog and how this all relates to Jesus Christ.  February 9th will be our Pizza Reward Night for the Sparks at 7:30 pm.  February 16th will be a Regular Night.  Our Bible Quizzing teams will be heading to Hope Community Church in Mt. Joy on February 12th.  We will have eight T&T teams representing the two Ultimate Adventure and the two Ultimate Challenge handbooks.  They have been working hard with our Bible Quizzing coaches, Jim and Theresa Gottshall, Julie Lauer and Elaine Willis and several other T&T leaders.  The quizzing will take place from 9 am to 12:30 pm in three testing formats:  multiple choice paddle round, written round and the speed round.  God bless each clubbers in studying God's Word.  Our Spark-a-Rama and T&T Awana Games practices will be held each Sunday afternoon, starting on February 13th from 12:30 to 2 pm in the Great Room.  The regional events will be held on March 13th in Elizabethtown.  More information will be coming next month.  On February 23rd will be celebrating President's Day with our Patriotic Night.  Clubbers are encouraged to wear red, white and blue to show their patriotism.  Our final event for the month will be our T&T Girls Lock-in held at Grace Fellowship on February 25th/26th.  Coming next month is our Awana's Got Talent Night.  Auditions will take place on March 2nd. If you are interested in showcasing your talent, please have your parent sign you up at the Kid's Ministry office downstairs.  God bless everyone, and let's have a great month.

January Events

     I hope everyone had a most joyous Christmas and a prosperous New Year!  We are now starting the third quarter of our Awana year.  January 5th was a regular night, but on January 12th, we will have a Topsy Turvy Night.  This could also be called an Inside Out Night.  So that means we can wear our uniform and other clothes inside out for the night.  Games should be interesting too!  January 19th will be a regular night with a special combined Council Team for Sparks and T&T.  Then on January 26th, the T&T will have a special Thank You Party for the church custodians.  Finally, T&T Bible Quizzing teams are forming to practice for our regional Bible Quiz on February 12th in Mt. Joy, PA.  Our practices will be every Saturday, starting on January 8th from 10:00 to 11:30 am in the T&T rooms.  Any T&T boy or girl who has completed Discoveries 1-4 or Challenges 1-4 are eligible to participant.  Please let me know or come to our first practice to get more information.  This a great opportunity to grow closer to Christ and have a lot of fun doing it.  We have four great coaches to help you.  So let us all have a great month and I see you on Wednesday nights or Saturday morning! 

In His service,
Commander Mark