Christmas Eve

Reindeer Games. Even if you are Rudolph, we invite you to Christmas Eve Services in Adventure World. We will be playing reindeer games, making Christmas Cookies (and eating those same cookies)and even doing a craft.

Parents of children that will attend both services on Christmas Eve: No worries, each service time will feature a different group of reindeer games, a cookie to be decorated and a craft.

Last Sunday a number of children rededicated their lives to Christ and a few accepted Jesus for the first time! Christmas Eve services will feature a short message about how Jesus was born. Pray that more children, especially guests, will open their hearts to Jesus this Wednesday night!

Pastor Russ

January through April Adventures

January through April 2009: Adventure World.

Scuba-Duba: Bravery, devotion, honesty and justice. Four scuba diving adventures. The first will take our kids to Antartica, it takes great bravery to dive beneath the ice.

Where do you think the other virtues should take us?
Post the virtue and the destination. If you have a reason, make sure you post it.

What destination would you pick?

January through April 2009: Adventure World.

Scuba-Duba: Bravery, devotion, honesty and justice. Four scuba diving adventures. The first will take our kids to Antartica, it takes great bravery to dive beneath the ice.

Where do you think the other virtues should happen?
Post the virtue and the destination. If you have a reason, make sure you post it.

December 7th Johnny Marzetti

Johnny Marzetti Dec. 7 2008 from Reality Church on Vimeo.

December 7th Teaching Moment

Teaching Moment Dec. 7th from Reality Church on Vimeo.

December 7th Compass Verse

Compass Verse Dec. 7 2008 from Reality Church on Vimeo.

Dec. 7th Videos

Where do you get your icecream? James 1:17 says everything good comes from God. I get my icecream from the store. How can it be from God? Well, God made cows...

Enjoy the videos from Dec. 7th.

December Virtue: Giving

For the month of December, we're covering the virtue of Giving in Adventure World. Seems appropriate to me!!.

The verse for this is:

James 1:17a Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our father.

My kids are tying it all together...

• Christmas is about giving.


• The wise men gave gifts to Jesus.


• Jesus was a gift to us.


• Because of all we have been given, we give to others.

It's always really exciting to see my children's eyes light up when they actually "get" the lesson. How do you know your kids are getting it?

Adventure Quest Sunday LOYALTY

Just got home from church and reached into my pocket to find a shell. This shell has a "B" written on it by the child who gave it to me. The little guy who gave it to me is pretty special and I really appreciate this little gift. Thanks "B"!!!

This was the last week of loyalty, I for one really enjoyed this day. We decorated cupcakes and crowned a little girl King of Cupcakes.

Loyalty: Its so Royal to be Loyal.
It is easy to be loyal to the wrong people or things, so be careful who you are loyal to.

Jesus says that whatever we do for the smallest we do for Him. In other words, to be loyal to Jesus is to be good to those who are weaker or smaller.

To be loyal to our friends, we need to steer them away from making mistakes.

We also need to be aware that someone who is trying to get us into trouble is not really being our friend.

Lastly, we need to be tenderhearted to our friends trusting God's view not our own.

IN short, to be "Royally" LOYAL:
Be kind to the smallest, tenderhearted and forgiving to all. Give good advice to your friends, and trust in God's view not your own.

This was quite a month and we pray that your children were energized by God's Word and caught some of the truth and wisdom about loyalty.

Thanks Chef Felicia!

Next month: Giving, Learn from above and give in Love.

November 2nd Compass Verse

Compass Verse Nov. 2 from Reality Church on Vimeo.

It's okay to climb in the machine, right?

Do we really have to tell our children not to climb into arcade machines?






This last week we looked at Ephesians 4:32 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

To be loyal to God means that we lean on His understanding and not our own. We don't know everything we need to know, but we do know some things. It seems like we excuse ourselves from the things we know to do with the excuse that we are still trying to learn it all.

We all just "know" that God wants us to be nice to others, just like we "know" not to climb up in the claw arcade machine.

The kids made crowns as a craft. Some kids wrote things on their crowns, the older kids were allowed to use glitter. Its so Royal to be Loyal.

Pastor Russ

Loyalty to Jesus

Matthew 25:40b Whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine you did for me.

This is Jesus, isn't it awesome that He said, "What-Ever!" Okay, so your kids say it with more attitude...

The question we posed to the kids was, "How can you be loyal to Jesus?"

We discussed how easy it is to be loyal to the wrong thing or person. If we make lemonade, you add lemon, water, sugar, and ... chocolate milk.

Well, if you added chocolate milk, that is not being loyal to the ingredients and it will probably give you a tummy ache. In the same way, if you are loyal to the wrong ingredients in life, then you will probably find yourself in trouble and not having that awesome of an adventure.

Being loyal to Jesus means helping those around me and being kind. The cool thing is that we are all like sponges and our good actions towards others, our being loyal to Jesus, will be soaked up by all the other sponge people around us.

From one sponge to the next,
Pastor Russ

Sponge People

In case you can't tell from the above picture, those are the Sponge People made by two of my children in church on Sunday. And, yes, the one on the left "is still alive after being shot in the head." Thank you, Justin!

The kids and I talked about those Sponge People on the way home from church on Sunday morning. I wanted to find out what they had learned. We do this often, and it amazes me what they have learned.

So, we talked about those sponges, and what they do....which is to soak up things...water and spilled soda and the like. And how each of them are like sponges.

One of them made the connection with some friends we had warned them about spending time with, who have subsequently gotten themselves in trouble with the law, and how the actions of those friends rub off on them. We also discussed the fact that other things they soak up are ways that friends talk, and things they see on TV or hear on the radio.

They got it....they learned why LOYALTY to the wrong people is a problem. And the bonus? They are learning why we don't want them to watch certain things on TV or listen to certain music!

What did your kids get out of their Sponge People?

Virtue: Loyalty

November, 2008

It so Royal to be Loyal

Loyalty, it is very easy to be loyal to the wrong thing or person and find yourself in trouble. Therefore, it is important to think about who or what you are loyal to.

I can think of many people that I have been loyal to over the years and I cherish the memories and their continuing loyalty to me as a friend. However, I can also think of some people that I was loyal to and I ended up in trouble. I have even skirted serious trouble with the law by hanging with the wrong person at the wrong time. If I could pass on anything to my kids about loyalty, I would want them to learn to be careful who you are loyal to. You can end up in serious trouble, or you could end up with lifelong friends.

There is one to be loyal to who will never get you in trouble: God of course.

The verse for this month are:
Sunday, Nov. 2nd: Matthew 25:40 The King will reply, I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.

Weekly teaching point: To be loyal to God, I will help those in need.


Sunday, Nov. 9th: Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, do not depend on your own understanding.

Weekly teaching point: To be loyal to God means I will actually do what He wants, trusting that He knows best.

Sunday, Nov. 16th Ephesians 4:32a Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another.

Weekly teaching point: We are loyal to God by treating others with kindness and forgiveness with our words and our actions.

Sunday, Nov. 23: Proverbs 12:26 The godly give good advice to their friends, the wicked lead them astray.

Weekly teaching point: To be loyal, I protect my friends.

Parents, our kids friends will effect our kids. It is my goal with this month to teach our kids to be loyal to God first, but to also be very loyal to their friends by steering their friends away from trouble.


Jesus says that if I am loyal to Him if I will help those around me in need. In fact, I should trust God's view more than my own, which means that I have to listen to/for God. At some point a friend whom I have shown loyalty will hurt me. Right now I am deciding to forgive them and when the time comes that I am hurt by my friend, I will be tenderhearted and treat them better than they deserve.

If my friend wants me to steal candy, I am not being loyal to them to go along with the their plan. I am loyal to my friend if I stand up to their bad idea and replace it with a good idea. Maybe instead of stealing candy we should go rake leaves and eat cookies at my house.

Thank you for your time and interest,
your partner in ministry,
Pastor Russ

p.s. We need a bunch of cupcakes for Sunday, Nov. 23rd. Please post a comment or email Pastor Russ if you can help.

Our virtue saying is, "Its so Royal to be Loyal." We will have a visit from the King of Cupcakes on that day. The children will be earning toppings for their cupcakes all month. We are sincerely hoping no kids will earn barbecue sauce or pickles.

How do YOU teach your children about your values?

I've been thinking about this question lately. What methods are the most effective to use to get your values across to your children?

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I know that I default to the way I was taught when I am not thinking about how I communicate what I consider most important to my children. I know that it worked to get my parents' values across to me....but my children live in a different era and are exposed to a lot more than I was ever exposed to. I *want* to be more deliberate about how I teach my children, but when I'm tired (most of the time), or rushed (again, most of the time), or just lazy, I don't think through what I am saying to my children.

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So all of this got me to thinking about the best way for my children to learn from me, and it reminded me of one of my favorite quotes, "Children rarely misquote you. Rather, they repeat word-for-word what you shouldn't have said."
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Children do most of their learning from us when we're not trying to teach them. They learn our bad habits, our irritating mannerisms, and the words we say that we don't want them to say. In other words, they learn by example moreso than lecture.

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So, how am I to teach my children the way I want them to live?
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I have to live in front of them the life I want them to emulate. I have to be an example.
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So, I have to examine my life. How am *I* living? Am I being what I want my children to become? What is my life teaching my children? Am I giving example of a life fully committed to God? Or, am I showing my children how to lazily sit in front of the TV, not being careful of what is in front of my eyes? What does the music I listen to teach my children? Am I teaching my children to gossip? Am I teaching them to care for their bodies by eating good foods and staying in shape?
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For a lot of years, I thought that being a parent was going to be easy. And frankly, if I allow myself to default to how I was raised, it *is* easy. BUT, that way does not necessarily produce the results I am looking for in my children. I am starting realize that parenting is hard work...and the hardest part of it is in evaluating myself, and living in such a way that I am being

the right example to my children.

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So, how do YOU teach your children your values?

Prayer Request Page

On this page, we will share things for which we are requesting prayer.
If you have a prayer request, please leave it in the comments.
We will be praying with you.

Adventures in childrearing: Milestones

(originally posted 08/19/08 at A Day in the Life of a Mom of Six)

Mile marker along the National Road, located in Columbus, Ohio. Digital photo taken July 15, 2005.

Do you know what a Milestone was in ancient times?

From Wikipedia:

Milestones were originally stone obelisks – made from granite, marble, or whatever
local stone was available – and later concrete posts. They were widely used by Roman Empire road builders and were an important part of any Roman road network, in which when the distance travelled per day was only a few miles in some cases.

In our children, we watch carefully (especially with our first child) for milestones of a different nature. We want to make sure they're growing and maturing at a good rate...we want to make sure there are not things of a physical nature holding them back. This is why there are periodic doctor's visits and growth charts.

When they're babies, we celebrate each little milestone...first smile? Break out the camera! First tooth? Call the in-laws! First birthday? PARTY TIME with the whole extended family!

As they grow, it seems like our enthusiasm for celebrating everything about our children wanes a bit...perhaps we've gotten busy with little things like work and keeping the house clean.

Perhaps we're dealing with more pressing issues such as health problems or financial stressors. Whatever the reason, we tend to need bigger reasons to break out the celebratory cameras and party streamers.

As adults, we have often gotten to the point where we don't like to celebrate our birthdays quite as much...maybe because they're a reminder that we're not getting any younger. Our children NEED us to keep celebrating with them. They need to know that we enjoy their company and want to celebrate their accomplishments. They need to know that we are proud of them.

Lately I've heard of people spending more and more money on birthday parties and such...but our children do not have to have the extravaganza that seems to be the norm now...they want US...OUR TIME, our presence, and our attention. Even for those of us who are not the most creative people in the world, spending some time one-on-one with our children lets them know that we WANT to be with them. Something as small as discussing the accomplishment of the day over dinner can tell your child that you're proud of his newest milestone.

So, do you have a milestone to celebrate with your child today? Break out the camera! Or at least, sit down and talk it over with them.