Hello Awana leader!
At this time of year we can't think of a more encouraging verse
than Galatians 6:9: "And let us not be weary in well doing:
for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."
Don't give up! Keep on going! Keep calling and picking up
kids, keep explaining the gospel, keep excited, keep up the
dialog with parents — until and even after the last club
meeting. Like planting a vegetable or flower garden, you'll reap
what you sow, so keep on sowing!
This issue of
Awana Ideas is packed with ideas on different topics. So,
like the many offerings of a delicious church potluck, or a
finger-licking barbeque, look it all over and use the parts that
look good to you!
Does your church keep in touch
with your clubbers over the summer? Please let us know at: Keeping in
Touch Over the Summer. One idea is to have an Awana picnic at
the church one summer Saturday morning. Or a summer evening ice
cream party for the clubbers. Yum! Chocolate, vanilla or
strawberry?
Yours for the kids,
Dale & Jodi
P.S. Check out the May issue of KidsPrint for: A Dozen Ways for Your T&Ters to Serve the Lord this Summer!
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Last month we asked, "What do you do before club begins?" Here are some fine leader ideas to get your clubbers off on the right foot:
"We provide 'Coming-in Activities.' Leaders rotate each week and provide an activity for clubbers who arrive early to club. Activities include playing circle games, word search puzzles or musical chairs. Clubbers have created get-well cards for people in nursing homes or at the hospital and sent letters to soldiers in Iraq.
Some activities are geared toward our theme for the night. One night our theme was "Good News Shoes." The Coming-in Activity was to write Bible verses on shoe laces with permanent markers. Each clubber kept his or her pair of shoe laces." — Sandra Chaney, Crossview Baptist Church, Fitzgerald, Georgia.
"To keep things under control before club starts, we play 'The Circle of Truth.' We use an overhead projector to play a variation of Wheel of Fortune®. Teams take turns trying to fill in letters in the blanks. A team must give a correct consonant before they can guess a vowel. The team that guesses the word or phrase correctly gets five points. When the word or phrase is completed, the letters form a truth from the Bible. If the team can tell where in the Bible the truth is found, they get an additional five points. In addition to truths, we also use people, places and things found in the Bible." — Jim Donar, Faith Baptist Church, Iowa City, Iowa.
"We have a large club, so we've separated our pre-club time by age group. Cubbies check in and go to their leaders' table for coloring, puzzles and a review of the week's Bible verse. Then they go to Starting Time.
Sparkies go to another room and a leader teaches them the Sparks Code, the theme songs for Sparks and Awana and what to expect at club. You can often find Sparkies marching in a single line through the hall singing one of the songs. The benefit we've found is that kids really know the Sparks code.
T&T clubbers gather in the gym where they have free time playing basketball and enjoying fellowship. Each club blows the whistle at the start time, says flag salutes and a prayer to begin the night." — Judy Fetzer, Commander, Highlands Community Church, Renton, Washington.
"We have a leaders' meeting and prayer 30 minutes before club each week. Our leaders' kids go to the game circle and have a supervised game time with our game directors. One way we get kids to club on time is by awarding an Awana share for everyone who arrives on time before opening ceremony." — Mimi Hailes, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
"As the kids come in, they go to their club secretary, drop off their stuff and then join in for what we call 'Music & Motions' with the Awana Momma! That's me. At the 2006 Children's Pastors' Conference in Orlando, Florida, I met Rob Biagi (www.robbiagi.com) and purchased his music DVDs. His kid-friendly praise and worship music comes with motions.
We play his DVD or put up a slideshow of the words to the songs, and I lead the kids in the motions. We do a new song each month and then one or two songs from the previous months if we have time. Rob's songs are filled with praise and energy, and we all love it! Our leaders and even some of the parents join in too!" — Lori Hawks, Awana Secretary, Winn's Baptist Church, Glen Allen, Virginia.
"Our church has a wonderful crew who provides fantastic meals for us on Wednesday nights before Awana. There is a nominal charge ($3 for adults, $2 for children). The menu is always different and delicious. It's a great opportunity for young and old alike to fellowship together before our various  church activities get started, and it really helps us to feed our families on what can be a very hectic night. The dinners are cheaper and healthier than feeding our families fast food before church." — Heather Hensley, Northpoint Christian Fellowship, San Bernardino, California.
"After the clubbers check in with our secretary, they go outside (our Awana circle is outside) where we have about 25 balls available, and they have a lot of unstructured fun until our flag ceremony." — Becky Jensen, Commander, Everglades Community Church, Pembroke Pines, Florida.
How can you battle spring fever at your club — that infectious disease that strikes clubs every April and May? It comes when warm weather hits, nights get longer, sport programs beckon and some kids stop coming to club.
One way to combat the fever is to have a healthy dose of outreach events. If you need a cure for spring fever, try one of these events:
An Awards Banquet for Everyone
The Awana awards banquet is the last opportunity of the club year to expose nonbelieving parents to the gospel. Some parents may never attend an Awana event again. To ensure their attendance, consider these suggestions:
A month before club ends, pass out awards night fliers to every clubber. Personally deliver fliers to unchurched families' homes.
Make awards night attractive to every clubber. Many kids who aren't receiving an award won't attend. But, most clubbers will come if they're somehow included in the festivities.
- Show a videotape of your team in action at the AwanaGames™. (Include lots of crowd shots of clubbers who were spectators.)
- Feature video highlights of your Awana Fair, Grand Prix and theme nights.
- Host a puppet show.
- Hire a Christian magician or clown.
- Bring in a guest speaker with lots of kid appeal.
The awards banquet is also a prime spot for publicizing other opportunities.
- Promote Vacation Bible School, church camp, High Power™ soccer and your church's summer family picnic.
- Announce any club get-togethers or programs planned for the summer. Distribute fliers or display posters promoting these events.
Banquets for Mom & Dad
Mother-daughter and father-son banquets are a natural end-of-year outreach. Host a mother-daughter banquet in conjunction with Mother's Day in May and a father-son banquet before Father's Day in June.
Don't exclude anyone from this event. Ask leaders to chaperone kids from single-parent families or whose unchurched parents decline to attend. Conduct a church-wide banquet using Awana as the publicity arm to reach out to nonbelieving parents.
Game director, do you give much thought to the final game of the night? Do you run games until you need to leave the game floor? We would suggest you always have a final game planned, and then skip to it when time is running low.
The standard Awana bean bag grab is a good game to end with because it quiets kids down naturally — they have to be quiet between each "heat" to hear their number called.
Instead of using numbers, use days of the week, months of the year, animal names or sports team names. As a substitute for bean bags to grab, have a foam ball (or several) in the center that they have to kick back across their team color line.
The next week, do the same with sponge footballs, then a mixture of the two. The next time, they have to kick the ball across the line opposite from their own — it's up to you because you come up with a different angle on this quiet-down game.
Awana Ideas
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© 2007 Awana Clubs International This newsletter may be reproduced without permission only by churches registered with Awana Clubs International.
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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:
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!
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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.
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High Power™soccer
Mission: Unstoppable!
High Power soccer is a summer sports ministry. This Monday-through-Friday, half-day soccer camp is a blast. It's also an awesome way for kids to hear about Christ's plan of salvation — many for the first time. You can even use the camp as a vehicle to point children to your 2007–08 Awana program!
You can get started with High Power Soccer today! Learn how to plan and carry out your summer sports ministry with the Director Kit.
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:
Feel like you need some new ideas this time of year? Check out the Awana Encyclopedia of Ideas.
Awana Tote Bag
Hold everything — in your sturdy Awana Tote Bag!
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