Two-in-One Post

I have two different things to blog about today. I'm a little behind, partly because there's a lot going on to keep me busy and partly because our laptop was down yet again this last week.

For 13 weeks, our church kids have been earning points for church attendance, memorizing verses, bringing visitors to church, etc., in order to win a pizza party. At first, they weren't trying very hard, but after I assured them that they would not get a pizza party if they didn't achieve the goal I had set for them, they got busy, earning even more points at the end than they needed. So I made a bunch of pizzas, and we had a fun, but crazy, evening with them here at home.

(probably the only time they were all sitting quietly the whole evening)

(Playing "the dice game")

I decided to have them do the same thing the next 13 weeks in order to win a Christmas party. The kids were very excited when I told them about this and were still talking about how fun the pizza party was. So while it may seem like I'm bribing them to be doing these things, here are some of the benefits I've seen so far from giving them this extra motivation:

(what was left of the 4 pizzas -- that's a chocolate dessert pizza in the middle)

* Several of them didn't miss a single service. By being at church, they are hearing God's Word and His Truth is penetrating their hearts.

* Most of them still remember several Bible verses, especially one that we learned together using a little song/chant.

* One boy brought his sister to church in order to earn points, and she has not missed a service since. She is 11 years old and seems to really be soaking in what she's learning.

My last post was about our plans for an outreach event to hand out food bags to people in need. Thanks to some generous contributions, we were able to purchase 27 food bags, and had quite a few used clothes to give away too.

Here are some of the praises from that event:

* Most of our "core" group was there, having brought friends in need to hear the gospel and receive some food and clothes. It was great to have their help and see them reaching out to others.

* David presented the gospel using some paintings and I heard several comments from people about how clearly they understood the message. For sure, most of the ones there had never heard the truth of God's offer of salvation through repentance of sins and faith in Jesus' work on the cross on our behalf.

* Word is spreading about our church in the neighborhood. Several day after the event, a woman saw David and asked him if he was the man handing out coupons for free food bags. She asked if she could have one too, and he told her if she came to the service on Wednesday night, he would give her one. She did come and brought another girl with her. She says she will be back on Sunday to hear more.

So those are the highlights of the past couple of weeks. Thanks for your prayers for us and don't stop!