 What season is between winter and spring? (Think Awana now!) It's event season! By that we mean the Awana regional events such as Bible Quizzing, Sparks-a-Rama, AwanaGames™ and Grand Prix Opens.
Even if you're not a games or quizzing coach, you can encourage your clubbers to participate and help out. Here's how:
- Contact parents and invite them to attend the events in your area
- Offer to provide transportation to practices or the event itself (check your church's child protection policy)
- Pray for the kids and your fellow leaders who coach them
- Interact with parents at the events as much as possible
An event like Bible Quizzing provides a great opportunity for clubbers to get more grounded in God's Word. Other events are excellent opportunities to reach entire families with the gospel. You can also use the lead-up time to an event as a way to reach children and their families for Jesus Christ. We talk about this idea in the article "Good News Will Travel."
Also in this issue, we have a few theme ideas that you might want to try out in your club.
Yours for the kids,
Jodi & Dale
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Sparks-a-Rama and the AwanaGames™ (for any age level through high school) have been used for decades as an outreach tool. We receive accounts here at headquarters from Awana missionaries around the country of decisions for Christ made as a result of the gospel message being shared — either at the event itself or at a church service the next day.
Parents and relatives who might never enter a church will attend an event in which one of their kids is participating. So let's make every attempt to contact parents of participants to make sure they get to the event.
But these events offer other, often overlooked opportunities
. When selecting a team, contact each family personally (not only through mass announcements, mailings or e-mail). This is especially important in the case of unchurched families. Explain the event and emphasize the importance of the clubber's attendance at all the practices and at the event itself.
Ask the parents specifically not to use the event as a discipline tool — the child's participation is vital to the team. Since rosters are limited, replacements are hard to come by. Do this on a personal visit either to the home, after club or at a pre-arranged time and place. Don't settle for a phone conversation. A face-to-face conversation is the best way to get to know a family. These times can often lead to a conversation regarding spiritual matters.
Practices can be a real teaching tool
. Remember, it's not just about the mechanics of the games, it's about Christlike attitudes and sportsmanship.
 - Start every practice with prayer
- End every practice with a "sit-down" session. Have your sit-down in an area where arriving parents can observe your teaching
- Go over who is playing in which events
- Review appropriate attitudes and style of play
- Transition into the gospel if you have unsaved kids on your team
- End in prayer
So don't just sign up and enter the Awana area events. Use every opportunity to "build a bridge to the home" so the good news of Jesus can travel to it!
 February Fun
Here's a list of February holidays and anniversaries to inspire you as you plan your theme nights. - February is National Mentor Month. Leaders — kudos for all you do! You are mentors! Encourage one another this month in your clubs.
- February is Black History Month. Ask your clubbers what they are learning in school about this important subject.
- February is International Friendship Month. Encourage clubbers to be good friends to one another. Remind them to invite their unsaved friends to Awana so that they can learn about Jesus Christ. Give copies of the February issues of KidsPrint
, Parent Pause
and Sparkles
to your clubbers. The theme is friendship!
- February is Wild Bird Feeding Month — build birdfeeders as a craft.
- February 18 is Chinese New Year. Wear red. Eat almond cookies or mini-egg rolls for snacks. Play the Chinese Popcorn Feast game in this issue of Awana Ideas
. Pray for children and adults in China to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior.
- On February 22, 1918, Robert Wadlow, the world's tallest man (8' 11.1") was born — play games on stilts (use spotters to prevent injury). Younger clubbers can play games on their tippy-toes.
- Also on February 22, 1732, George Washington was born — give a cherry pie to the clubber who can list all the presidents in order.
March Madness
 - March is Music in Our Schools Month. Make it Music in Our Club Month and have fun singing in your clubs. Awana has some great music resources
you can use.
- March is also National Craft Month. This is a great time for those "crafty" leaders to pass on some of their skills to clubbers. You might want to plan a special craft Saturday for leaders and clubbers.
Here are some other real (but obscure) special days your club can celebrate!
- March is National Noodle Month and National Frozen Food Month!
- March 3 is National Anthem Day. "The Star-Spangled Banner" was adopted by Congress on this date in 1931. Mention this to clubbers after your Flag Ceremony.
- March 6 is the day Oreo© cookies were first sold in 1912. Have an Oreo© cookie sculpture contest. For ideas, look online with the search term: Oreo© cookie Sculptures.
- March 14 is National Potato Chip Day
- March 24 is Chocolate-Covered Raisin Day
- On March 29, 1886, Coca-Cola© was invented
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Chinese Popcorn Feast-
Items needed:
- Popcorn
- Four bowls
- Card table
- *Chop sticks (and plastic teaspoons)
- Stopwatch
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Place a bowl of popcorn on the center table for each team. Give each team (child) a set of *chop sticks. At the whistle, the player to the right runs to his team bowl and eats as much popcorn as he can using chop sticks.
*Have the clubbers try chop sticks first. Let them use a teaspoon if they can't use the chop sticks. The whistle blows in 5 or 10 seconds. The clubber runs and tags the next person who eats as much as he can. Play continues until one bowl is empty. The first team to eat all the popcorn wins.
We are still collecting your thoughts about your Awana Store, so please tell us about it about at: My Awana Store
- How do you finance your store?
- How do your clubbers earn shares?
- Why does your club have a store?
- What are some do's and don'ts you've learned along the way?
- How do you run your store?
High Power™
soccer camp
Mission: Unstoppable
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 Soccer is the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. — and if your church wants to attract unsaved kids to a fun summer event that will present them the gospel and connect them with your church — then High Power soccer camp is the way to go.
High Power soccer is a summer sports ministry where the coaches do not have to be soccer experts to be coaches! The 10 stations of drills and skill building are basic enough for any adult to teach.
Here are some of the many highlights of High Power soccer: - Available for summer 2007
- For children ages 5 to 10
- Runs three hours a day over five days, Monday through Friday
- Large Group Time with Bible lessons, skits, and songs
- Small Group Time discussing Bible truths
- Series of 10 easy-to-teach daily soccer drills to improve ball-handling
- Each day concludes with fun, non-competitive soccer games
- Any open field will work using cones for sidelines and goal markers
In the US, Awana-registered churches: Pre-order the High Power soccer Director's Kit online
or call 866-292-6227. The kit includes key components for your church to run High Power soccer.
In Canada, call 877-272-9262 or consult the web site at: www.awana.ca
.
Check back with us — the complete High Power soccer product catalog is coming in March!
Awana Ideas
Delivered free via e-mail to subscribers monthly. We encourage you to distribute this newsletter freely and ask only that you not change its contents.
Did you receive this from a friend? Click here
to receive your own copy!
Awana has free Bible-based, fun newsletters for your clubbers and Cubbies parents too. Sign up
for KidsPrint
(for T&T aged-children)
, Sparkles
(for Sparkies)
, and Parent Pause
(for parents of Cubbies)
.
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please click here
.
© 2007 Awana Clubs International
This newsletter may be reproduced without permission only by churches registered with Awana Clubs International. All rights reserved 1 East Bode Road Streamwood, IL 60107-6658 www.awana.org
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Awana Clip Art
Use Awana clipart to promote your Awana ministry! You can use it as long as your church is registered with Awana. Here are links to clipart for:
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Check out
apPARENTlyblogging
, the Awana blog for parents and other people who find joy in working with kids and teaching them about the exciting, relevant and everyday-life-instructions found in the Bible.
Also stop by and visit RedBlueGreenYellow
—the blog that shares joys, challenges and some inside views into the latest happenings at Awana HQ! |
New Awana Radio Program
Kid Matters
is a one-minute radio feature that encourages parents to raise children according to biblical principles — and provides the practical ideas to do it! The radio program's Web site contains resources to assist parents and children's ministry workers. Check out the list of stations
airing Kid Matters as well as an archive of radio spots
.
| Memory Packets
Bronze, Silver and Gold. Eager clubbers can do some extra credit work with these memory packets
. Each PDF set is available in KJV, NIV and NKJV.
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| Memory Books
Do you have some clubbers (under the age of ten) who need some extra credit materials? These memory books
will keep them engaged in God's Word.
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PowerUP
is a year-long initiative to help kids finish their handbooks and grow in God's Word. It features dozens of downloadable resources to equip your church to do just that. We offer these tools and more: - promo poster
- flier
- theme song
- motions video
- book walks with handbook tips
- PowerUP Minutes that can be used to motivate your clubbers.
- PowerUP Minutes that can be used to motivate your clubbers.
- Lessons, product suggestions, training handouts and a free e-newsletter called PowerUPdate.
Get all the latest news on PowerUP by signing up for it here
.
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Check out the Awana Store
, where Awana leaders can directly purchase a wide range of Awana products that will help your club ministry.
There you'll find items like these:
Awana Balloon
Catch attention with this great-looking balloon. They're terrific for Awana outreach events. You can fill the balloon with air or helium.
 Grand Prix Single
Indy Car Kit
It's easy to get into the Grand Prix with this single Indy Car kit.
 Grand Prix Single Stock Car
A clubber can build the stock car of his or her dreams with this kit!
Women's Clothing
Needs Met
Awana has club polo shirts
made just for women! Made with your measurements in mind, the shirts look great! Available for leaders in Cubbies, Sparks and T&T.
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