First Day

Today was the "Grand Opening" of The F.L.Y. Cafe!

I arrived bright and early at 7 AM, arms full of lesson materials and Dunkin' Doughnuts paraphernalia, in order to get the classroom up and running. I had created a Sunday Morning worship playlist full of some of my favorite uplifting and fun contemporary Christian songs, that I played as I was preparing the space. My awesome fiance came with me to help set up the space, the projector, the coffee, etc...the energy was high and I was ready for my students.

I was nervous, but full of energy, optimism and expectation. I knew that the students weren't quite sure what to make of everything yet, because we have never really done anything like this...but I was ready to make it work. I was excited to share my love of the Lord and the awesomeness of god's story with these amazing teens.

Finally, it was time. My fiance and I joined hands and prayed over the space, asking God to work, through me, through this place, through the students...to create a space that is pure Truth, pure Love, pure Acceptance, pure Faith, pure God. We opened the doors...

I thought the response was great and the first lesson went without too many glitches. :)

We studied Creation,and what it means to be made in God's image.What does it mean to you???

Students: You were AWESOME today. You participated and shared, you were engaged, and you posed some really GREAT questions. I am so looking forward to working with you this year!

To quote one of you "I think it's going to be a good year"......

I think so, too!

In case you wanted to re-visit the lesson, or reflect on stuff that we talked about today...here is the video (created by Inspire Church) that I shared in class:

 (Thanks to Ben Guise and Inspire Church for creating such an AMAZING video)!!!!

It's Almost Here!

T-minus two days until the grand opening of The F.L.Y. Café, and I am diligently working away to get everything up and running!

This week has been kind of hectic and apparently I ran into some kind of irritant because my face is covered in poison, or a rash of some sort. I pretty much want to rip my face off...but If I did that, then I wouldn't be able to come and hang out with all of my awesome students on Sunday!

I am looking forward to seeing all of you on Sunday morning at 9:30a.m. for some doughnuts and coffee (or cocoa, or tea if you prefer), and even more than that, I am looking forward to sharing the love of Christ with you in a new and exciting way! This year is going to be epic.

Just a little preview on how this blog will work:

Each Saturday morning, I will post our lesson topic for the week. I might pose questions, or post a YouTube video, maybe a picture or a song, just to get you thinking about the topic. I will also include the focus verse of the week. This blog is interactive, so please feel free to comment if you have questions about the lesson, of just a thought that you would like to share. Later in the year, we will be posting stuff as a class, so I will give you more details about that as we go along.

Be Prepaaaaaaared!

This week, if you have a Bible of your own, please bring it with you. We are going to learn a super easy, super fantastic skill for using your Bible as more than a pretty book to display on your shelf. If you do not have one, that is totally fine. We have TONS around here...but I would like you to try to get your own at some point, because it's a pretty spectacular book.

The only other thing you have to bring is yourself, just as your are :)

You don't have to be as prepared as Japeth the Goat:

Rally Recreation Day

Hey everyone!

Summer is quickly drawing to a close and many students have already gone back to school. I have been in class for almost three weeks now, and just recently returned from Virginia for an on-campus intensive course that was...shall we say...intense.

With school back in session, and fall fast approaching it seems only fitting that we, here at First, return to Sunday School. Each year, our church starts the Sunday School year off with bang at Rally Recreation Day, and this year is no different! Well, that's not entirely true...this year is a LOT different!

This year, unlike in the past, we have our very own park!

Rally Recreation Day will take place in our park this year and boy, do we have fun planned for you! It's going to be a carnival!!!

Families, Adults, Children, Teens, people of all ages are invited to worship with us in the park at 10:00 AM this Sunday, September 8, 2013. Bring a lawn chair or a blanket, and come join us under the tents for a Rally Day like no other! We will have carnival food, carnival games, prizes, music and fellowship!

Also, the new Sunday School teachers will be commissioned at the service, and each teacher invites the students and families to each with them and get to know them better. I am looking forward to meeting you, high school students! your room is ALMOST ready to go...just have a few more demolition-type projects to fit in this week :)

Hope to see you at Rally Day so I can get to know you all better! Bring your families and have a GREAT time!