Easter Events!

Easter is such a wonderful celebration! What a chance to teach our kids the joy of our salvation!


We hit alot of groups during Easter time and wanted to share!

-New visitors/ community
We have the Easter Event with multiple services followed by a cookout/ blow ups/ activities for all ages/ fair food/ and of course a big egg hunt! We strategically place volunteers in shifts so they can enjoy the family event too. We have a under cover greeting team to seek out new families!

-Youth
Most youth play too cool to egg hunt but the kid inside is so desperate to hunt those eggs!
Black Light Egg Hunt is a fun idea for youth groups- rent a laser tag type place and hide black light eggs for round one. the rest of your time you can play regular laser tag or include 1 hidden egg.

-Family Connectivity
We use Easter as a time for family fun outside the church too! This year we will hide numerous "golden eggs" throughout the city and give clues through the web/ handouts on where the families can find the eggs. Inside the eggs is a mini scroll for the  finders to sign and see who else has been there. There are also little cards inside that tell the family to present the card to whomever at the church to be entered for a bigger prize!
We're still in planning phases but if we go all out for this event we'll post the egg locations on geocacheing.com to open it up to the public and enables the use of a gps to help locate the eggs.

If you want more info as we plan, shoot me an e-mail!
love & all the best,
Ashley

New Direction

Need some new direction for you ministry?

Find a quiet moment and a peaceful place and bring a pen and pad with you.

Now write down four families that you are close to that are in your ministry and write down four families that you don't know that well that may be struggling.

Pray over these families//
Now consider what these families would look like if they were in a relationship with God all as individuals and as a family unit. How would their lives be different?//
Lastly, ask God how He wants to take them there? What steps can you take to get these families more engaged in their relationship with Christ and living their life to the fullest?

Be patient. You love these families and desire to see them flourish in a relationship with Christ but guess what? He wants to see that happen even more than you. So pray, and ask God how he can use you to help them look to Him,  He may not answer immediately but continue to dream and pray and remember He wants this too!

Write down all your brainstorming ideas and continue to pray over them.
parent small group/ mom & kids day/ visit kids in their lunch room/ attend a soccer game for the kids/ have a family over for dinner/

I am praying that God, the one that created everything under the sun, would give you some creative ideas about building relationships with your churches families and their relationship with God!

Love and all the best,
Ashley

A Blessing

When I was younger, my grandmother would give me rides to school or work or the mall but she wouldn't let me out of the car until she said this prayer over me.

"May the Lord bless you and protect you.

May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.

May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace."

                                  Number 6 24-26

Now at the time I would realize the car was coming to a stop and I'd try to jump out as fast as I can so my friends wouldn't see me in her old ratty car that we named freckles because of all the chipped paint.

Looking back I can't imagine how many times she quoted, or sang or yelled that verse over me as I was rushing to get away. I'll never know how many things the Lord protected me from, blessed me with, and times He gave me peace because of my grandmother praying for me, bringing me before God and asking Him to take care of me.


Everyone might not have a grandmother to pray for them or a mom or a dad who knows to ask God to bless their life SO
         STOP NOW
                        and pray for a child from our church and their family and ask God to take care of them! You never know how it will effect their important walk with God!Thank you for serving! I am saying a prayer for you all today.


Love & all the best,Ashley

Summer Event Ideas ::Water & Game Day::

::Summer Events::

We have a plethora of kids who want to do SOMETHING with their summer. So instead of hosting a VBS like every church on the block we spread our events out throughout the summer.

This year we've picked a TUESDAY so enjoy our details on TOTALLY TUESDAYS! All these Tuesdays lead up to our grand summer finale -KIDS CAMP 10'! We'll talk about that another time :)

Vision:
We want kids to come to know Christ, friends that encourage them, leader who they can talk to, and to realize that being at church doesn't have to be boring!
Each Tuesday we incorporate a safe check in, provided lunch & afternoon snack, an energetic worship time with motions and music by Hillsong Kids DVD, an interactive object lesson, and of course the MAIN ACTIVITY!

Here’s our Totally Tuesday Line up:
9:30AM - 2:00PM
June 8- Water day/Game day
June 15- Brevard Zoo
June 22- Toy Story 3! In theaters
June 29 U Pick Summer
July 6th - Andretti's
July 13th Slime Time Game Show
I will slowly post some details on each of these Tuesdays! -contact me if you need details sooner to host your own Totally Tuesday...

JUNE 8th- Water Day/Game Day!
Today was our Water & Game Day.
-We rented a blow up slip & slide & purchased some props for the games- all very inexpensive!!
-divided the kids into 4 teams with four team captains (volunteers) & gave them all bandanna's for their team
Our general outline went something like this::
9AM -Check in/ Free time
-welcome from stage/rules/worship/object lesson/meet our captains/divide into teams/take group picture
-then we went outside...
-We had two Game Captains who lead two teams each, in two competitive games & kept score.
-Then some free time on the blow ups! //team leaders supervised blows ups- kids stayed in coned in area// game captains made the lunches
-Lunch outside with everyone// gather back in teams
-10 more minutes of free time then teams go to the other Game captain & played the group game.
-back inside for the team leaders game on stage for extra points!// announce the winner(team Yellow won)
-then snack & free time inside waiting for check out! (2PM)
It was AMAZING! A big success! 28 kids- no injuries - they learned about the belt of truth & standing firm, and they made NEW friends with other kids at church. A well spent Tuesday..

If you'd like more information on the team & leader games we played just comment & I'll post the instructions!

Games: Steal the bacon// water duel/ frozen clothes relay//down, down, down

Love & all the best,
Ashley Kingdon

Book Notes

Hi there,
I'm really getting into this book called Turbocharged by Dale Hudson & Scott Werner. It's about 100 simple secrets to successful children's ministry. However, a lot of what I've read is applicable to all areas of your church's ministry!

//I'm sure I'll be sharing a lot from this book as I make my way through it!

::The First Eight::
You have eight minutes to make your first impression!
Take a couple moments, walk out to the parking lot and pretend you are a new visitor at your church. What are the first eight minutes like?

• -Is there a sign that represents your church from the street?
• -Are there visitor parking spots in case families have to carry a lot kiddo's
• -Do you have welcomers in the parking lot/ doors/ check in centers?
• -Is your check in hosted by a person, simple, and fast?
• -Are your kids classrooms up to date and welcoming for the kids?

Your visitors first eight minutes of your grounds, directions, volunteer team are SO important to how they will feel about your church and how they open to the message that day.

Now think about your small group, children's church, or Early childhood class. What are the attenders first eight minutes like?

• -Are there things to keep them excited and not feel awkward or unwelcome while waiting to begin?
• -Is the area bland or filled with color and lighting?

Make some notes about your First Eight Minutes and find some simple solutions to make your First Eight better!

Proverbs 22:1 says "Choose a good reputation over great riches; being held in high esteem is better than gold."
For some ideas check out the book!

Have a great day!
Love & all the best,
Ashley

First Post :)

Hello,
My name is Ashley Kingdon. My husband and I live in Melbourne Beach, FL and we are the Family Life Pastors of The Way Church.

I live, breathe, eat, sleep, and dream ministry.
...24/7

My favorite things revolve around serving, events, being creative, and planning. My hope for this blog is to inspire you, where ever you are, to dream BIG and know it's possible to have a creative ministry that represents God as the fun, inspiring, and most amazing creator of the world that He truly is.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have on these posts. I love to help others further their ministry and I'm more than willing to e-mail more ideas, planning outlines, or logos for anything on the blog.

So ENJOY these "Serendipity Ministry Things" from a girl in Ministry.
Love & all the best,
Ashley Kingdon