People who examine fingerprints are required to have extensive training. They have to be able to determine if fingerprints match. I understand that no two people have identical fingerprints and I watch on TV all the time how computers can find out who someone is just by a smudge or partial smudge left behind.  But what I didn’t know is that someone’s fingerprint can look slightly different from one inky print to another inky print of the same finger! I just read a Wikipedia entry about this very thing…I know Wikipedia isn’t the greatest resource, but it was right there, popping up for me to read first when I Googled “fingerprint.” I guess there are “friction ridges” on our fingers, which make up our fingerprints. And these ridges collect dirt, sweat, oil, and even ink which can cause the print to look a little different! It takes a close eye to verify a match!

As we wrap up a school year, I am mindful of an amazing team of people who have been leaving “fingerprints” on our FaithWorks! kids each week. These are people who have been committed to being with their small group on Sunday mornings. And they have been “Jesus with skin on” for them. They have been prepared; dedicated; patient; arriving with a servant’s heart; modeling worship, prayer & study. They dance with them. They sing with them. They listen to them. They encourage them. They learn with them. They open the Bible with them. They even discipline them.

They know your child by name.

Every thing they do with your child is leaving a “fingerprint” on their young faith journey. Each week, they smudge them up with something that looks a little different, but if you look closely, it’s the same “fingerprint.”

It’s God. It’s Jesus Christ. It’s the Holy Spirit. It’s love. It’s forgiveness. It’s hope. And it’s placed there by someone who they only see once a week. Someone who cares for them and loves them and looks forward to seeing them again.

These are the people who have spent the last nine months with the FaithWorks! kids:
Amy & Matt Romanin; Summer King; Jon Martin; Eric & Machelle Seese; Jill Riggs; Brad Citter; Marina Collier; Doug Farmwald; Bill Weaver; Dodi Carnall; Joan Keeler; Rachel Holmes; Myshelle Babcoke; Shelly Parpart; Hillary Carnall; Colin Grant; Jack Deahl; Shelby Green; Ben Tadevich; Nicole Cameron; Holley Cowling; Katie Inabnit. Kevin & Ryann DeMoss; Judy & Tom Rossow; Kurt & Julie Ohlson; Don & Noelle Elliott; Kyle & DeAnn Look; Andrea Martin; Christian Sofhauser; Leslie Lehner; Nelly Cameron; Tessa Griffin; Bella Griffin; Jacob Tadevich; Linda Looney; Jean Womer; James Parpart. Kathie Besse.

I hope you just took time to read through this list and didn’t skip over it. I hope you recognized a name or two on it. I hope you’ll take the time to pray for them, say thank you to them, and look for the “fingerprints” they’ve left on your child this year.

I don’t like snakes. I don’t like their creepy little eyes, their slimy looking skin, or their sneaky way of getting around. But I was willing to bring one in to FaithWorks! a few weeks ago! I posted on facebook that I was looking for a snake. And the replies were quite funny! Not many took me seriously but those who did said they wouldn’t come to church that day if they knew there was going to be a snake! My intention was not to freak anyone out. It was to raise an awareness.

Clay Church has this amazing heart for digging wells in Burkina Faso, Africa. Recently our lead pastor, our executive director and two members of our congregation visited a few of the 50+ wells we have dug. They came home having learned that yes, the water is definitely helping the people of Burkina Faso! But there was another need.

Vipers are common and not very nice there. They like to crawl up and hide in the shade of rocks near people’s homes. They easily reach out and bite anyone disturbing them so mornings are spent by moms sweeping their yards and overturning rocks to chase these pesky reptiles away. Unfortunately, some are missed and people get a bite. A deadly bite.

It has been discovered that a small gadget, called a Hot Shot, can help save lives. This Hot Shot is used to stop the venom from causing a death. It basically gives a jolt, like a  mini-taser, and does something…if I could explain it, I would…that stops the venom from taking a life. It is a simple, yet profound  device. Here’s a video clip of it being used on a child.

Clay Church’s Firehouse youth ministries and FaithWorks! children’s ministries each has a goal of collecting enough money this spring to purchase 20 Hot Shots. That would make 40. And addition to that, each of these ministries has an anonymous donor willing to match what the youth and kids are able to purchase. So we have the ability to provide 80 Hot Shots to Burkina Faso!

Here’s the cool part. These Hot Shots are not handed out randomly. They are designated to be housed by the local pastor in each village. The same pastor who cares for the wells being dug. If someone is bitten by a viper, they can be brought to the village pastor to be prayed over and treated. This gives that pastor the opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ as lives are saved.

80 Hot Shots may not seem like a lot. But we’re really talking about 80 villages. VILLAGES. That’s a ton of people. A ton of people who are receiving clean water. A ton of people who can witness the miracles of Jesus Christ. A ton of people who can come to know Him as their Lord and Savior!!

I think these kids here in Firehouse and FaithWorks! are hot shots! Give them a goal and they hit it every time! We still have two more Sundays (May 20 & 27) if your child still wants to contribute toward another Hot Shot!

Faith works,
Karen

This summer, we have something new that FaithWorks! is very excited about! It’s called
Step Up 2012! This event will be a FaithWorks!-has-left-the-building kind of thing! It will complete our connecting, growing and sharing summer trilogy!

FW! Summer Part 1: Every Sunday, our summer FaithWorks! team will be going over-the-top to give our kids a great opportunity to CONNECT with each other and CONNECT with God. We know how important the relationships our kids have with their church family friends is!! We will spend the entire summer learning from David and using his story to help us have a better relationship with each other and God in a series called “Kid 2 Crown”.

FW! Summer Part 2: For an entire week, a team of FaithWorks! adults and youth will be sharing the Gospel with our kids at Camp Lakewood. This is a place to GROW and where lives are transformed.  Kids grasp God’s love for them! So many have claimed Jesus as their Forever Friend at summer camp that we invest hours and hours into developing an amazing week! As of today we have over 30 FaithWorks! kids registered for camp!!

FW! Summer Part 3: June 25 will begin Step Up 2012 and FaithWorks! will reach out to SHARE God with the kids in our community. I am so excited about this!! This will be a fun evening where we help our kids understand that everyone is a masterpiece (see Ephesians 2:10) and need to Step Up their activity level! It is important it is to take care of our bodies with healthy activity – because we are a gift from God!  FOR KIDS 4 YRS (by June 1) THROUGH FOURTH GRADE.

Here’s where it gets really exciting:  We have created a one-day event that will take place in four locations on four consecutive days! Your child can attend on June 25 at Clay North along with our Swanson Elementary School neighborhood. They will receive a pedometer and a water bottle and spend the evening running, jumping and dancing! They’ll learn lots of ways to Step Up their activity level and even get a healthy dinner.

THEN, over the following three days, Step Up 2012 will travel to three different locations: June 26 – Hope Ministries’ Family Life Center; June 27 – the LaSalle neighborhood where we do the food distribution on Good Fridays; and June 28 – Eastside Park in Niles, Michigan.

Here’s a great way to serve our community with your kids!! We want you to help at Step Up 2012 with registration, hanging out with a group of kids to move them from rotation to rotation, making box dinners, filling water bottles, setting up tents, dancing, jumping and running!! Stop by the Do Something counter this weekend after either service and talk to a Step Up 2012 team member.

All FaithWorks! kids and their friends are encouraged to attend on June 25!! The other three days, when you come out to share with our community, your child can be right there with you!! How cool is that?!

Faith works,
Karen

I love caramel. It actually reminds me of my mom. As a child, I knew that her favorite candy treat was the caramels from Fannie May. When I could, I liked to buy those for her because I knew they’d make her smile. Today I like it in many ways: a caramel cashew sundae from Culver’s; in a Milky Way; a plain ole square of Brach’s; caramel corn, just to name a few!

I recently purchased some sea salt caramels from my son’s track fundraiser. I chose that because of the “caramel” in the name, but it was the “salt” that intrigued me. I immediately opened the box when it arrived and picked one up. They were large enough to get four bites out of it. The caramel was soft and chewy and the milk chocolate was creamy…but the salt made my tongue water! It was delicious! It seemed the perfect combination and I marveled at why I had never experienced this before! I don’t know that I’ll have a plain caramel ever again (or not for a while anyway, haha!). I won’t tell you how quickly that box disappeared and how much time I’ve spent searching for more. But I’m sure you can take a guess!

This past week the elementary FaithWorks! kids talked about all the things they put salt on. The list included mashed potatoes, french fries, popcorn, corn on the cob, and even watermelon. Everyone agreed that salt made these things taste yummier! Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:13, “You are the salt of the earth” (italics mine) and went on to say that it’s not a good thing if you lose your “saltiness.” Well, what does that mean? What is saltiness and how can you be salty?

Basically I think Jesus was saying let’s be so filled up by God that we can flavor His world. When we are listening for God regularly, when we are sharing with Him regularly, when we are trying to understand His Word spoken to us in the Scriptures, when we are living the God-in-charge-kind-of-life, we are salty. When we place God first in our lives, we are  salty. When we share His love in this world we are being the salt of the earth.

Staying salty is intentional. We can talk about it on Sundays in FaithWorks!, but I’m counting on you, parents, to help your children practice it at home in their everyday life. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 says, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.”

We have an AMAZING team of leaders in FaithWorks! and your children are spending their Sunday mornings talking with salty people. But it’s when they get home that this living in faith every day stuff becomes real.

This week, make a list with your family of all the things you like to put salt on! (Kids can come up with some crazy ideas!)

This week, make a list with your family of all the ways someone can BE salty!  (Maybe you’ll even be challenged! I know these kids challenge me every week!)

This week, encourage your child to try one of the items you wrote on the list! (I love hearing the sweet, young voices praying out loud for their moms and dads, their dogs, their friends, their sporting event coming up. I love to hear them try to pronounce words in the Bible that no one seems to be able to pronounce. I love to hear their questions about God. Go for it!)

This week, post a reply to this blog as to what that looks like for your family and how it’s going! (I love hearing what you and your kids are up to AND you can encourage other readers!)

And then go flavor the world!

Because this week, your child’s small group leader is going to ask: “How were you salty this week?” How do you think they’ll answer?

Let me tell you a story. It’s a story of how a big idea can point to a little idea that can become a huge gift.

One day, the FaithWorks! praise team visited Hope Ministries’ Family Life Center. They had the privilege of singing with the preschoolers who live there and spending some time playing with them. Then they received a tour by Karla Pedue, a Clay Church member who works there. Karla was very patient and answered all of their questions! The kids learned about the people who live there, why they might be there, what their apartments look like, where they wash their clothes, where the kids play, where they do their homework, and even where they go to the bathroom.

Later that afternoon, at home, a mom and her kids had a conversation.  One comment, from her preschooler, led to the birth of a new ministry. This young boy suggested they buy these people a house! What a big idea from such a little guy! Unfortunately the mom had to convince him that his idea wasn’t going to be possible! They began to brainstorm ways that their family really could help make someone’s stay at the Family Life Center a little better.

Together, they decided to bake birthday cakes for the children! Each month, the Martin family (Jon, Andrea, Ainsley, Aiden & Landon) takes a stack of homemade, frozen, cakes downtown. They are stored and ready for a child’s birthday. When the time comes, the parents are able to pick out a cake and frost it!

What could sound like such a little thing, is actually brilliant! What child doesn’t want a cake on their birthday?! What parent doesn’t want to be able to make their child’s birthday special?!

Tonight at the THRIVE lock-in (THRIVE’s our preteen ministry for 4th & 5th graders) the kids will be creating “birthday bags” to go with these cakes. They will include a can of frosting, some candles, some basic birthday party stuff: balloons, noise makers, etc.; and a handmade birthday card. The bags will be decorated, prayed over and delivered to Hope with the cakes.

Our hope is that these children have a big smile on their face because they know they are special regardless of their circumstances. Our hope is that they feel loved. Our hope is that their parents know that someone cares. Our hope is that they feel God’s love poured out on them. That’s a huge gift.

Just one more way that the FaithWorks! kids show that faith works.  And one more reason to be blown away by their generous hearts (and their families who support their ideas)!
Karen