Crosstown Kidz Parent’s Letter September 16, 2008

Dear Parents,

Teaching a child about God and leading them into a relationship with Jesus is one of the greatest opportunities that anyone could have!

Did you know that more than half of the people who give their lives to Jesus do so while they are in elementary school? These years are a crucial time during which to lead children in developing spiritual habits that will draw them close to God. Children are open to learning new things while they are young. This is why I would like to work with you to help your child develop a lifestyle of godly habits.

Through our Crosstown Kidz ministry, we have created an incentive system to help each child develop the practices of Bible reading, scripture memorization and daily prayer. When a child accomplishes one of these goals, he/she is

rewarded on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis.

This Crosstown Kidz book outlines weekly assignments in each of the areas listed above. I encourage you to do these things with your child each week. Imagine the impact of your example as you bond with your child while drawing near to God together. I believe that as you develop these disciplines with your child, you establish a solid starting point from which he/she can achieve lifelong habits to stay close with God.

I, along with our small group leaders, welcome the opportunity to partner with you in teaching your child how to live for God. Please contact me at

412-487-7220 or joes@allisonparkchurch.com for more information.

Sincerely,

Joe Schafer

Children’s Pastor

Crosstown Kidz Rewards and Incentives September 16, 2008

Weekly

Each week following our small groups children will receive a ticket for our ticket pull. They can earn a ticket for each of the following:

Attending Crosstown Kidz

Praying every day

Reading all of their assigned Bible passages

Memorizing their Bible verse

Monthly

At the end of each month the small group who completed the highest percentage of its assignments will receive a special group party with ice cream, pizza or a fun activity.

Quarterly

Every three months kids who completed at least half of their assignments will receive a Crosstown Kidz pin to display on their Bible Bag. Any child who completes at least 75% of his/her assignments will receive a pin and an additional reward. Any child who completes at least 100% of his/her assignments will receive a pin and two additional rewards.

Annually

At the end of Crosstown Kidz each kid who completed at least half of his/her assignments for the entire year will receive a special trophy with his/her name engraved. Any child who completes 75% of his/her assignments will receive a trophy and a Crosstown Kidz t-shirt. Any Child who completes 100% of his/her assignments for the entire year will receive a trophy, a t-shirt and an additional reward.

Program Completion

If a boy or girl completes at least half of his/her assignments throughout 4^th and 5^th grade, including memorizing 72 Bible verses, reading the entire new testament and praying every day, he/she will receive a special award.

Boys will receive a mounted sword. The Bible is described in Ephesians 6 as the “Sword of the Spirit.” This sword will serve as a reminder of all the passages that the boys have read and the verses that they have memorized from the Bible.

Girls will receive a silver-heart shaped locket with a diamond chip. The heart is to be a constant reminder of God’s love. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 describes a choice that we all have to make. Will we build the foundation of our lives on the things that please God,

described as gold, silver or costly stones, or on things that do not please God, these things are described as wood, hay or stubble. The silver and the diamond are to be a reminder to the girls that the things they did during Crosstown Kidz were things that pleased God and that they should continue to do things that please God.

A New Way To Pray July 2, 2008

For the last year I have been studying the way that Jesus prayed when he saw results and I have come to a conclusion that I have not been praying the way that Jesus did when he saw miracles. Take a look at each of the miracles that Jesus performed. Really, I challenge you to look at them. With each of them, Jesus did not ask God to solve a problem. Instead he spoke to the problem and commanded it to stop. Here are some examples:

1. Calming the storm- “Quiet! Be still!” – Mark 4:39  or Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. – Matthew 8:26
2. Raising Lazarus- “Lazarus Come Out” – John 11:43
3. Healing a lame man- “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” John 5:8

Jesus tells us that we can do even greater things than he did on earth in John 14:11-14.

Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

What does all that mean for us?

This past week was an incredible week of ministry. I have said and have heard several people say that it was the best week of Kidz Kaboom that we have ever had. I believe that was the case because of the prayer that went into it. Each morning we (the youth team, interns and a few additional volunteers) went after God. I believe that God gave me a few pictures to help me understand the concept of “praying with authority.”

Working with kids I can relate to the concept of authority. It is easy to take authority of children because they almost always need guidance. If I do not take authority over them they can get hurt. When I speak to a child with authority I am a different person than when I speak out of a relationship. Here is an example:

• Before Crosstown I often greet kids as they come in the door and I am joking around and talking is a soft light hearted tone. I give high fives and am very inviting in my speech.
• When a child is doing something that if harmful to himself or another child my tone changes. I am forceful and I demand a change. I don’t ask. I take the authority that I have and I stop the action that could be harmful.

This past week of Kidz Kaboom, I noticed some people who did not understand their authority with children and youth. I had a few adults come to me and say “I say this kids doing this and I asked him to stop, but he did not listen to me. After I heard this I went to that child and corrected the problem. There was no chance that that child would continue his behavior after I talked to him. I would not take no for an answer. That is authority.

When we take authority over Satan and his forces, we are not asking them to stop. Equally important, we do not need to go running to God and ask him to take care of this for us. The person who came to me and said that a child would not listen to them did not take authority over the situation. Could they have? Absolutely! Often times we are tempted to run to God and ask him to handle something that we can handle ourselves based on the authority he has given us. This morning I shared breifly about how I often ask RAchael to get something for me (mostly when I am just laying around doing nothing) and she sometimes responds “Get it yourself!” Thats what I feel God wants us to do. Get it yourself. He has given us the authority, we just need to use it.

When we take authority we WILL speak differently.

• We are not asking, we are demanding
• We are not negotiating, we are setting the rules
• We are not speaking softly so that we do not offend, we should be angry. We are speaking to the one who wants to ruin lives and take souls. He does not deserve a soft gentle tone.

I challenge you to pray with the authority that Jesus has already given you. Jesus did his part, but now it is up to you to use the authority.

My least favorite dessert! July 1, 2008

Last week we had an awesome time at Kidz Kaboom. We had over 320 kids here hearing the good news about what Jesus has done for us. As we do every year we concluded our week with a final penny weigh between the boys and girls. The boys have won for the last 7 years, but it could not last forever. This year the girls were victorious. Their prize? They all got a special dessert on me. Literally!

Check it out!

Journey in the life of Joseph June 3, 2008

This summer for 8 weeks we are going to be studying the life of Joseph in our “Space Series” This week in Crosstown we will begin our series and learn about how and when we should “not say anything.” Joseph spoke when he probably should have just stayed quiet when he bragged to his brother about his dreams.

Don;t we all have times that we say something that we wish we could just take back. The problem is, once we say something it is too late. The Bible tells us to be quick to listen and slow to speak in James 1:19.

I hope to see your kids this weekend!

New Beginning June 3, 2008

It is great to see what God is able to do! He can take apparent problems and create solutions. Recently there have been several churches in our network who were in a period of transition.

Evangel Assembly of God- has been in th North Side for many years and they had been praying for their surrounding community. The church in in the center of a hurting community that desperately needs God.

Ridgewood AG- has been searching for a new pastor for a few months after their former pastor resigned to pursue some other ministry opportunities that God was leading him toward.

Pittsburgh City Outreach- is only 2 years young. They are reaching many people who are hurting. They currently meet in Lawrenceville, but they have been reaching people all over the city of Pittsburgh. They are extremely limited in their facility, and were beyond their capacity at times…. especially in their children’s ministry.

Each of these churches had a need that they had been praying for. In our own minds these seemed like 3 pretty big problems, but God saw them as 3 solutions. This past week Evangel and Ridgewood merged for the first time. Pastor Chris and his congregation from Evangel will be merging with Ridgewood in Westview. They had about 200 people in attendance. This is one of the highest attendance for both churches combined that they have had for years! This left Evangel’s facility available. Pittsburgh City Outreach will begin to meet in this facility this summer. Pittsburgh City Outreach will be a perfect fit for the community. It is so exciting to see how God can work!

I was at PCO’s first meeting on Good Friday a little over 2 years ago. They had about 45 kids ages 1-12 packed in a room the size of my living room. (no exaggeration!) In their new facility they will have a room for nursery, a room for preschool, and a room for elementary aged kids. This Saturday I along with many of the leaders and volunteers in Crosstown will be going there to build a stage for them and paint their children’s room. They will have a fresh start in a new building. Please pray for Pastor Brian as he leads the church and my friend Joe (no relation to me) as he leads the children’s ministry in this new beginning.

I’m very proud of you Joe! You are doing a great job! Go get those kids!

This week in Crosstown Kindness April 29, 2008

Last weekend we told the story of Rebekah watering Abraham’s camels. In this story Rebekah offers to get Abraham’s servant a drink from the well, and then offers to get his 10 camels something to drink. That sounds like a simple thing to do, but here are some things to consider:

• There were 10 camels
• The Camels just finished a long trip and were thirsty
• A camel can drink 27 liters of water in one sitting

Rebekah must have been there for hours getting all that water for the camels, and she did the for someone she never met before. That is true kindness. Kindness is doing something for someone even if it interrupts your life. I challenged the kids to do something kind instead of something that they like to do. Here are some examples I gave them:

• Stop playing video games and wash the dishes
• Hang up the phone and clean the bathroom

Kindness often comes at a cost to us. Rebekah getting water for those camels was costly. I can imagine how I would feel if I had to unload 135 2 liter bottles of pop from the car. Not only would that take time, but I would be hurting the next morning. And the more I think about it, taking bottles out of a car is better than pulling water up from a 30 foot well.

This Week in Crosstown- Patience = No Complaining April 22, 2008

It is often challenging communicating spiritual concepts in a way that young children can understand. Over the next couple weeks we will continue our series on the “Fruit of the Spirit.” Some of them are trick to teach on, but last weekend it was an easy concept: PATIENCE. All of you parents know that this may be an easy concept to communicate to kids, but it is very difficult to apply. The way I explained patience to the kids is:

Patience- waiting without complaining

Thats sounds simple, but it is one of the hardest things to teach kids. In Crosstown we taught on the Israelites. Here are a couple things that we told the kids about them:

• They were slaves in Egypt
• Moses freed them from slavery with God’s help
• They were on their way to the “Promised Land”
• The journey took a long time
• They often complained and wished they could go back to Egypt and be slaves again

This story shows me that this is a lesson that everyone needs to learn. Imagine people who were freed from slavery complaining that they want to go back! The truth is it is human nature to complain. No matter how good things are, there will still be complaining. We need to make patience a constant discipline! It realy does require constant attention.

Always remember, complaining does not help. Look at the Israelites. It took them 40 years to get where they were going because they complained.

Bring an Umbrella! April 22, 2008

It is official! The girls have again defeated the boys. The girls brought in over $400 for the Africa Oasis project and the boys brought about $370. As a result in the next couple weeks the girls who attend Crosstown each get to throw a water balloon at the boys team captain…… that’s me. We will announce when we will do this in about 2 weeks. Anyone have an extra umbrella I could borrow?

Even after my second defeat, I am still very excited. Our first challenge was to see who could bring $100 first. The losing teams teams captain (again… thats me!) had to drink some dirty looking water in each of our weekend services. This time I get pummeled with water balloons. “How can this be exciting for me” you may ask. Our kids are learning to give to missions projects so that people may feel the love of Jesus and some day may give their lives to him! WHAT CAN BE MORE EXCITING THAN THAT?

The only question now is……. what will the next challenge be. I’ll keep you posted.

Water Water Everywhere! April 17, 2008

In Crosstown we are supporting the Africa Oasis Project to help drill well in Africa to provide clean drinking water. Our latest contest is to see if the boys or the girls can bring in $400 first. The winner gets a special reward. Last week, the boys finally passed up the girls in the 9:00 service. They were ahead by $4, that was until one girl brought a check for $50 in the 11:00 service. When we did our count, the girls were only $2 short. What’s the reward? Well… the winning team gets to throw water balloons at the losing teams captain. I am the boys captain, and Rachael is the girls captain. I gotta do some digging to find my swim suit!