175th Anniversary @ First Baptist Marietta

This weekend was First Baptist Marietta's 175th anniversary celebration. Many people gathered for event throughout the weekend celebrating our history and looking toward the future. This morning during our worship service Sydney Bell, a 5th grader, made her public profession of faith! I can't think of a better way to celebrate the church's birthday! As Bill said in his sermon, the children are the future Bible study leaders, deacons, ministers, and pastors. I look forward to the future that God has in store for First Baptist and all the churches around the world.

Ruth Wagner Miller congratulating Sydney and welcoming her to the church.

For the 175th Anniversary, we put together a video of pictures for the past and present. It was shown at the beginning of the worship service. Enjoy watching it below!

God and Dog

I'm at a ministerial leadership conference with my fellow ministers. I've been learning great ideas and finding wonderful resources for not only the children at First Baptist Marietta, but also for the church as a whole.

Last night at the worship session Rev. Adam Hamilton showed us a FABULOUS video using a Dog as a metaphor for God. It's a really moving 2 minute video that reminds us of God's unconditional love for us.

I would encourage you to share this with your children to help aid them in understanding how God loves each one of us no matter what!

Enjoy!

PASSPORTkids! Camp Day 3

Last night we arrived safely at the church, unloaded the bus, said our goodbyes, and headed home. While we might have been physically exhausted from a fun week of camp, our hearts were filled from our renewed relationships with God and our wonderful camp memories.

The 3rd day of camp the campers learned about sharing Christ's presence. Our verse of the day was Acts 2:45, "They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person's need was met."

Enjoy the video of pictures from the 3rd day of camp!

Hee Haw Variety Show

Camp Favorite Things

NIght 2 Camp Pictures

Anna helping lead camp in worship by reading scripture.

The best water slide EVER! The girls LOVE it!

Missions Rotation learning how wells are built in Ethiopia.

More well digging...

Helen and her friend, Alexis, seeing what it's like to carry water from the well to their home.


Sydney getting excited for the Ethopian Night Market!


Caroline was trying to catch lightening bugs.

Caroline and Sydney dancing on the way to the night market.


Sydney attempting to try Ethiopian Coffee.

Learning about Ethiopian culture.

Night 2 of Camp

This afternoon campers began their rotations of missions activities, swimming, and campers choice which varied from cooking, basketball, drama, and canoeing. This week our camp offering is going to an organization called Water if Life. This organization helps drill wells in Ethiopia to bring clean water to places that don't have access to water. During missions rotations the campers are learning about what it is like without clean water and how they drill wells.

Tonight after worship we had our second night party, the Ethiopian Night Market. During the market the children went on a scavenger hunt, meeting different "natives" from Ethiopian who taught the campers about their culture. The girls had a blast as they learned about how others in the world live.

More pictures to come soon...

Day 2: Morning

Our began with morning celebration where all the campers play silly games, sing songs, and hear announcements for the day. After morning celebration the campers divided up in their Bible Study groups for recreation and Bible Study.

Today's verse of the day is John 10:27, "My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me." Today the campers are learning about following God, and how the more we trust God the easier it is to follow.

Here are a few pictures from morning celebration, bible study, and recreation.

First Time at Camp!

Night One: Worship & Toe Jam Rec Party!

This evening the campers enjoyed worship outside in God's creation as they were challenged to give their worries over to God and trust in God, even when life gets tough. After worship I told the girls that we were going to do something that was messy, dirty, wet, and fun! One of the girls said that was the best thing I had said all day! The Toe Jam Rec party was tonight after worship. It was full of messy and wet relay games. The girls had fun as their Bible studies competed in the games and a cheer competition. Enjoy the pictures from the blast that was the the first night of camp!

Our group of fabulous girls


Worship Night One:

Toe Jam Rec Party:

As you can tell, fun is being had by all!

PASSPORTkids! Camp Day One

Early this morning 9 girls, one brave chaperone, and I packed the church bus and headed to Crossville, TN for 4 days of PASSPORTkids! Camp! After a four hour drive of singing along to Radio Disney and every Justin Bieber song on our iPods, we made it safely to camp.

Once the girls unpacked their things and got their bunk beds set up we headed to the pool for a short swim to escape the heat (and enjoy the AWESOME water slide!). The campers just got finished meeting their new Bible Study groups that they will be with each day and have a few minutes of down time before we have to get ready for our first worship session.

Today's theme is trust. In their Bible study groups they began talking about trusting each other and God and the things or worries that get in the way of letting go and fully trusting God. Our focus verse for the day is Matthew 6:34a "Don't worry about tomorrow. It will take care of itself." (CEV)

After worship tonight we will have our first night party. Tonight's party is the Toe Jam Rec Party! The kids will participate in fun, wet, and messy games. While some of the girls are worried about messing up their hair, most are excited for the fun times ahead!!

Our theme for the week is "Barefoot" based on the verse Romans 10:15b "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" Before we left for came we were instructed to take a picture of our feet doing something. Below is the picture that the girls came up with.

"We use our feet to serve God by Stepping Out on Faith!"

Songs that Warm the Heart

The children took a break from the blistering sun on Tuesday afternoon to jump around at a local inflatable place. As the children were running around and jumping, Thurston, a 5 year-old boy, saw Mrs. Michele. Mrs. Michele was Thurston's preschool choir teacher this past year on Wednesday evenings at church.

As soon as Thurston spotted Mrs. Michele, he ran as fast as he could over to her and exclaimed, "I'm so glad you are here!" Thurston excitedly told Mrs. Michele how he still remembers all the songs that they learned in choir. Thurston then began proudly singing his favorite hymn from this past year, Jesus Loves Me.

There in the middle of all the inflatables my heart smiled seeing Thurston so eager to sing about how much Jesus loves him!

Thurston singing to Mrs. Michele


The children having fun at Jumpits!

Vacation Bible School 2010

Last Monday morning, after weeks of preparation, the time had finally come; it was the start of Vacation Bible School! With music playing in the background and the bubble maker blowing bubbles, I eagerly waited to greet all the children to their first day of VBS. This was my first VBS as Minister to Children and all my expectations were blown away. The 150 children and 80+ volunteers had a fabulous week learning how we can be heroes for God by reaching out to people in our own communities.

All of the children and volunteers that attended VBS were my heroes for participating in our weekly offering. One Wednesday night at Quest this past winter, our children learned about the disease Malaria killing thousands of children each year. The children learned that a simple mosquito net could prevent all of these deaths. Their passion ignited people in our church to host a World Malaria Day Event back in April to raise money for mosquito nets. Through the children's passion to raise money to buy mosquito nets, I decided that our VBS offering should go to purchasing mosquito nets as well. My goal for the week was to raise $500. After an intense competition between the boys and the girls, on the last day of VBS the children raised a total of $1,528 which will purchase 254 nets through an organization called His Nets (www.hisnets.org)!!! I'm so proud of all the children that attended VBS last week and I'm already looking forward to next year!

Enjoy this video documenting the fun times had at the MFBC VBS 2010

Life passes in a flash...

Time passes so quickly and so many things can happen at once that it makes your head spin. The past three months have been like that for me. Between finishing my seminary career, getting ordained, graduating, transitioning into a full time Minister to Children, beginning summer activities at the church, and moving to Marietta I have neglected to update this blog. Luckily the last three months have been filled with so many wonderful things and I have truly been blessed. I believe that pictures say a thousand words, so instead of me telling you about the last three months, sit back and enjoy taking a glance into my life! :)

The 3rd-5th Graders enjoying our Spring lock-in. One of the highlights of the night was riding the bumper boats and getting soaking wet!


The children preformed at the first annual Children's Music & Arts Spring Showcase. All of the children did a fabulous job preforming all the music that they have been working on during Wednesday Night choir!


The children and their families attended a Braves game in May and helped cheer them on to a victory in the bottom of the 9th!


May 2, 2010 I was ordained into the ministry by my home church, Parkway Baptist Church in Duluth, GA. It was a special time as family and friends came together to affirm the call that God has placed on my life.


May 22, 2010 I graduated from seminary with a Masters in Divinity!


After a busy Spring semester, we kicked off the Summer with a Children's pool party and had some fun in the sun!

Sanctuary

Growing up in church the sanctuary was a place that most kids did not enjoy. As a child the only time I spent time in the sanctuary was during the Sunday morning worship services. There I was told to "sit still and be quiet." Those words are never enjoyable for children to hear. As a youth, the sanctuary was a place that was dark and scary. We would often use the sanctuary as a place for hide and seek during lock-ins.

This past Sunday the children of Marietta First Baptist were able to enjoy the Sanctuary and celebrate the risen Christ by participating in our egg hunt. Due to the rainy weather we moved out egg hunt inside to the Sanctuary. It was a wonderful to watch the children laugh, play, and enjoy discovering the beautiful sanctuary we worship in each week!