Jesus TV

Last year Dean Maytag and I launched a pilot program that the kids called 'Jesus TV'. The concept was to meet the kids where they are, and have them communicate their faith via technology. We used Flipcams to develop short movies on various subjects. Unfortunately, the excitement soon waned as the support system (aka-me) got distracted. Late this Spring, the AV Tech and the Sunday School committees asked if we'd be interested in doing it again. Not one to turn down an opportunity (often to my own detriment), I obliged.

Our theme this summer is missions; I spent the first day explaining what mission programs are, why we support them, and how to get people interested in learning more about the various mission programs that ECUMC supports. The kids divided up into two groups and chose the Honduras Mission program and Habitat for Humanity. I talked to the kids about making sure there was a beginning, middle, and ending and set them loose.

The HfH group got stuck on what to do so I directed them to the internet to get their inspiration, as I often do when stuck on a school paper. They viewed a couple of YouTube videos and settled on one that 'spelled' out the mission in tiles -- the kids got the awesome idea to use blocks from the nursery to spell out their mission and decided to add some music. They stayed within their time frame, worked together as a group, and truly amazed me.



The Honduras group decided to interview Anne & Bob Weiland who had recently returned from Honduras. I reminded them to have their questions organized and present them to the Weilands beforehand. Unfortunately I didn't stress their time frame and it rolled on too long to post online :-( I'm sure that even Steven Spielberg made some mistakes along the way! The Weilands were impressed with the thought that went into the questions and how the group presented themselves. Ahhh, what pride!

This month we're working on our African and VBS in the Park mission programs. Together we drew a bubble diagram identifying some of the challenges of working with Africa and why it's important that we continue our mission programs there. I brought along some of Christie's keepsakes from her trip for inspiration; the kids were enthralled with the props and even the ones that got distracted easily were able to stay with us and contribute to the group. Being the summer, many families take vacations so this series will take a bit longer to produce but I've included some pictures of our brainstorming session and inspiration table.

Toss up some prayers for us -- we have a ways to go but are surely learning from one another and hopefully teaching others about His word via technology.