'children' Tagged Posts
Loving Our Neighbors
January 10, 2024A Note from Nikki Buskirk Dear Friends, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40) When the Faith Finders group first started (for kids in…
Showing No-Matter-What Love
October 25, 2023A Note from Nikki Buskirk Dear Friends, As many of you know, back in January I officially became a Godly Play trainer. I get to go to other churches and train people in how to do Godly Play, the Bible stories and materials we use in our Children’s Ministry on Sunday mornings with kids age four through 6th grade. I have loved every moment of it: meeting new people, talking about Godly Play, speaking the language of Godly…
There is Enough
August 30, 2023A Note from Pastor Jon Dear Friends, This Thursday night and into Friday morning it will be time to turn the page. Like it or not, we will acknowledge that we are two-thirds of the way through this calendar year of 2023. The page turn to September, however, is an exciting one for me. The excitement is not just because my kids are all back in school either. I have always loved this time of the year. There’s…
Summer Events!
We’ve got some great stuff planned this summer to connect, play, serve, pray, and learn!
Celebrations
May 17, 2023A Note from Pastor April Dear Friends, Seventh grade was rough. In the small town of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, all the students in seventh through twelfth grade went to school in the same building. The older students at our school were notorious for picking on the seventh graders. As a brainy, insecure, and extremely skinny 12-year-old girl, I was an easy target. I’ll never forget the afternoons and evenings spent crying in my bed, wishing that I could…
Stand Up & Go Gold!
May 10, 2023A Note from Robin Ozbolt Dear Friends, In our preschool world, colors are a topic of conversation on a daily basis. What is your favorite color? Can you share the red crayon? My dress is pink! My shoes are green! But when does a color represent much more than a shade on the spectrum of colors? The Color Gold The color gold has been on all of our minds this year. Gold is a precious metal, but it…
Gobble & Squash: Thank You!
November 30, 2022A Note from Nikki Buskirk Dear Friends, Sitting around the table as we prepare to have dinner, my family does the time-honored tradition of saying what we are thankful for. I thought it was rather cringe-worthy when we started doing it, but now it’s kind of a check-in-with-kids-and-each-other moment. It helps us as parents start conversations with the boys, and it helps us check in with each other. This year’s answers were a mixed bag. Silas said he’s…
Growing Older & Loving Every Minute of It
October 5, 2022A Note from Marilyn Hoeflinger Dear Friends, In November I will celebrate 70 years on this earth. I’m not sure what 70 feels like, honestly. In my mind I am 20, wait, 35, no, most likely 42. I’m not sure why I settle on that number, but when I think of what I want to do and how to do it, it is the body I had when I was 42. When I could sit crisscross applesauce in…
Everyone is entitled to God’s amazing love & grace
July 6, 2022A Note from Shiloh Abner Dear Friends, I believe with every generation, it gets more complicated to raise a child. More and more families are getting away from the church and consequently God because of bad theology and out-of-context scripture. What a refreshing time it was to move to Ohio and find a church that believed that everyone is entitled to God’s amazing love and grace. Coming from previous churches that held on to “traditional” stances on social…
Raising Children in a Church Known for its Love
June 29, 2022A Note from Anthony Coy-Gonzalez Dear Friends, In the midst of such volatile times where up and down, past and present, new beginnings and déjà vu all seem intertwined, I reflect on the comforting words of Jeremiah 29:11: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” On good days and bad, I settle on these words to…