Which 3rd John role model are you?

“Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.” – 3rd John 11

The book of 3rd John is a letter John wrote to a man named Gaius. Gaius was a Christian who gladly welcomed traveling believers into his home, giving them food and a place to stay on their journey. John was glad that Gaius ministered to fellow believers in this way, but there were some in Gaius’s community who weren’t as happy.

In fact, there was a man named Diotrephes who was a leader within the local church, and he despised what both Gaius and John were trying to do. Even though Diotrephes was supposed to be a fellow believer and a religious leader, he relished in his power and shunned anyone who threatened his authoritative position. John wrote in verse 10 that Diotrephes slandered them, working to estrange John and Gaius from his small faction of followers. In addition, “he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church.” John also goes on to say that this supposedly pious man’s evildoing prevents him from even seeing God.

Apparently, John felt that Diotrephes’s influence was great enough that he needed to warn Gaius not to turn a wicked man into a role model simply because of his title or position. Instead, John recommends another man to follow — a man named Demetrius, who “has a good testimony from all, and from the truth itself. And we also bear witness, and you know that our testimony is true.”

As believers and kidmin volunteers, we need to consider what kind of example we set. Are we being good role models for those in our ministry? Are we being like Diotrephes or like Demetrius?

We also need to be like John. Pop culture, our neighborhoods, our schools, and even our churches are full of people who can be easily seen and imitated. We need to help guide our kids away from the Diotrepheses and toward the Demetriuses, teaching them to “not imitate what is evil, but what is good.”

For more information about Awana, visit the Awana Homepage.
To find a club in your area visit the Club Locator.

Unusual Game Equipment Spotlight: Donuts

Sometimes it’s fun to break away from the traditional and try something different. Unusual game equipment switches up the Game Time routine and adds something fresh to keep the kids excited and wanting to come back.

In a previous post, I discussed some ways to use car sponges, ping pong balls, and combats. But sometimes unusual game equipment can include food items*, as is the case with this week’s article. Today, I want to share a couple games using donuts.

Donuts come in many shapes, sizes, and levels of messiness, which makes them fairly versatile. Also, many kids (and leaders — make sure you have enough for them, too!) love the treats, often covered in glaze, chocolate and/or sprinkles. Donuts can make any game time sweeter!

Here are two donut game ideas to start your creative brain train. Do you have any other donutty games? Share in the comments!

Blind Donut

Materials needed:

• Several 3-foot pieces of string (1 piece per team of 3)
• Several messy ring donuts (1 donut per team of 3)
• Powdered mini donuts work for younger kids
• Glazed regular sized donuts are great for older kids and adults

Pre-game prep: Tie a donut onto the end of each string.

How to Play: Break players into groups of 3. Each group must decide who gets blindfolded and holds the string, who gives directions, and who eats the donut. Eaters lie flat on their back with their arms resting comfortably — they are not allowed to use their arms or hands for the duration of the game. Nor are they allowed to sit up or lean forward. String holders are blindfolded and placed at the heads of the eaters, dangling the donuts at least a foot above the eaters’ mouths. Direction givers stand next to the string holders.

At the whistle, direction givers must tell the string holders how to move the string so the eaters can eat the donut. First team with a completely swallowed donut wins.

Jelly Donut Feed

Materials needed:

• Jelly Donuts
• Bowls (1 bowl per player, disposable are recommended – easy clean-up)
• Optional: Whipped cream and/or chocolate syrup

Pre-game prep: Slice the donuts into sizes appropriate for the ages of the players (quartered, halved, etc.). Put one slice into each bowl. Optional: add whipped cream and/or chocolate syrup to each bowl.

How to Play: At the whistle, players must eat the donut slices out of the bowls using only their mouths. First player with a completely swallowed donut slice wins.

Variations:

• Make it a team event — all team members eat at the same time. First team to have all players swallow their donut slices wins.
• Make it a relay — one player from each team eats a donut piece, then tags the next player.
• Make it a relay race station — team chooses a representative to eat the donut piece. When the representative swallows, team can move to the next station.

*With any food game, please be conscious of the allergies of the participants and the possibility of staining clothes or carpets.

For more information about Awana, visit the Awana Homepage.
To find a club in your area visit the Club Locator.

News of what’s new at Camp 2015

Junior high campers volunteer during free time to help with a
maintenance project at Camp.

This was a year of “news” at West Coast Honor Camp — a new activity (archery), several new crafts, new floating toys for the lake, and even a new concrete floor in the chapel (Yay! No more choking on wood-shaving dust during worship!). But these activities and improvements weren’t the only new elements introduced this year — Camp also provided campers, counselors, and staff with two new chances to serve the Lord through ministry.

One of the core elements of West Coast Honor Camp, as well as the biggest highlight for many of the campers, is the high school ministry trip. High school campers spend Monday and Tuesday preparing to go into Redding to serve and minister in several different locations and communities. You can learn more about the ministry options in my article, “Living the Lesson.”

But this year, ministry training and service weren’t limited to the high school campers — we offered a ministry opportunity to the junior high campers as well. Like their high school peers, interested junior high campers trained on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, they served our own camp by working on a small maintenance project during free time. They replaced and painted the wooden backrests on the benches of Reflection Circle — which hadn’t been fixed or replaced for many, many years. Then they got to sign their names on their work so they and their friends can see the fruits of their service for years to come.

West Coast Honor Camp also introduced a craft ministry, which allowed not only campers, but also counselors and staff, to participate. The idea this year was that instead of paying to make crafts for themselves, interested individuals made crafts and kits for free to give to children in impoverished countries through Operation Christmas Child. Participants made small packages with cars and trucks; kits with chalkboards, chalk and erasers; colorful bookmarks; hairclips; headbands; necklaces; and more to be put in shoebox-sized boxes and given to children who may have never received a gift before. Some campers even wrote letters or decorated the boxes. People also had the option to donate money through the week and through an offering at Thursday’s chapel to help ship the boxes. Together, we raised enough money to send 82 boxes filled with our crafts, along with toys, gospel messages, hygiene products, and school supplies.

The main reason I help with West Coast Honor Camp, and with Awana in general, is that I love helping the clubbers not only learn about God and the Bible but also watching them apply what they learn through the ways they chose to live and serve. This year was truly amazing in seeing the new ministry options embraced by everyone at camp, and I look forward to seeing both the ministries and the tweens and teens who serve through them grow in years to come.

For more information about West Coast Honor Camp, visit westcoasthonorcamp.org.

For more information about Awana, visit the Awana Homepage.
To find a club in your area visit the Club Locator.

God and the King: Submitting to God’s authority

Over the last couple months, we’ve been studying the first few chapters of Daniel, looking at how God moved Nebuchadnezzar closer to salvation. In Daniel 2, God revealed Himself to the king the first time by using Daniel to interpret a dream. The king took his first step toward salvation by acknowledging that God was real, wise, and involved in the lives of His people. In Daniel 3, God revealed Himself to the king the second time by delivering Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the furnace. The king took his second step toward salvation by recognizing God’s power and ability to care for His followers. In Daniel 4, God revealed Himself twice more, with the final encounter leading to the king’s moment of salvation.

Daniel 4 begins with God giving the king another dream. This encounter started like in Daniel 2; the king called his wise men first, and they were unable to provide the interpretation. However, unlike with the first dream, where the king kept the dream’s content a secret, this time he shared the content freely in Daniel 4:10-17. Also unlike with the first dream where Daniel had to ask to see the king to save the lives of the wise men, this time the king personally summoned Daniel as a trusted adviser and because “the Spirit of the Holy God is in you” (v. 18).

Daniel’s reaction to the interpretation is also different from before. The first time, he interpreted the dream to save the wise men, including himself and his friends, from Nebuchadnezzar. This time, he wanted to save the king. In verse 19, before sharing the interpretation, Daniel wished that the dream was about the king’s enemies. Instead, the dream was a warning to Nebuchadnezzar, telling him that God would cause him to be driven from the kingdom to live with animals and eat grass like the oxen. In verse 25b, Daniel tells the king, “seven times shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses.” At the end of the interpretation in verse 27, Daniel urged the king to “break off your sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your prosperity.”

But in the end, neither Daniel, nor his friends, nor anybody else except God could save the king. All they could do was pray and let God do the rest — which is exactly what happened. God’s fourth and final recorded revelation to Nebuchadnezzar was given directly to the king.

About a year after the dream, Nebuchadnezzar was admiring his palace. Instead of heeding Daniel’s advice to break from his sins and live righteously, he swelled with pride, praising himself in verse 30, saying, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?” God didn’t even let the king finish before making good on the warning. Verses 31-33 tell us, “While the word was still in the king’s mouth, a voice fell from heaven: ‘King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: the kingdom has departed from you! And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen; and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses.’ That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar.”

Nebuchadnezzar lived in that animalistic state for what scholars believe was seven years before finally understanding and submitting fully to God’s authority and God’s alone. And we see that once Nebuchadnezzar submitted, God blessed and cared for him, just as with Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. God restored his kingdom to him — and even expanded it to be greater than ever before. Daniel 4 closes with Nebuchadnezzar’s own words; “[God’s] dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth…His works are truth, and His ways as justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down” (v. 34-37).

God used Daniel in the first encounter to show Nebuchadnezzar His wisdom and involvement. We too can help nonbelievers understand that God knows about the world and takes an active role in believers’ lives. In the second encounter, God used Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to show His omnipotence. We too can help nonbelievers recognize that God can and will take care of those who trust Him. And finally, God used Himself in the last encounter to show His authority over the world, ultimately leading to Nebuchadnezzar’s submission and salvation through trusting Him. Now we can’t cause that final submission — that can only happen between God and nonbelievers. But we can act with compassion and concern like Daniel, and we can pray, watch, and wait to see how God draws them to Him.

For more information about Awana, visit the Awana Homepage.
To find a club in your area visit the Club Locator.

God and the King: Recognizing God’s power

In my last post, we took a look at Daniel 2 where Nebuchadnezzar met God for the first time through Daniel’s ability to interpret a dream. The king acknowledged God was real, wise, and involved in the lives of His people.

In Daniel 3, Nebuchadnezzar encountered God for the second time, this time through Daniel’s friends: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Nebuchadnezzar had a giant statue built, then required everyone to bow down and worship it when they heard music. Anyone who disobeyed would be thrown into a fiery furnace.

This caused a problem for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, because in Exodus 20:2-6, God had commanded His followers to bow to no other gods, especially ones created by human hands. They could obey God and evoke the wrath of the king who would have them put to death, or they could obey the king and evoke God’s wrath instead. They chose to obey God.

When the king heard that three of his advisers (appointed in Daniel 2) refused to bow, he was outraged. He couldn’t fathom the idea of anyone disobeying him, especially when he had the power to end their lives. In fact, we find in verse 15 that he was so angry that not only did he personally command them to bow, but he also challenged God directly; “who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?”

This wasn’t a question of if their God was real — as we saw in Daniel 2, Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged that God existed and was even the wisest of gods. But to the polytheist king, God was just like the rest of the Babylonian gods he knew — limited to specific abilities. In his mind, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s only available salvation was to obey him.

However, the three Israelites knew better. They knew that God wasn’t just limited to being all wise, but that He was all powerful as well. And in verses 17-18, they responded to the king’s threat. “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”

If Nebuchadnezzar was angry before, then he was absolutely livid now. He commanded his guards to heat the furnace to seven times greater than normal and to throw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into it with the excessive heat killing the guards in the process.

But God responded to the faith of His people, answering Nebuchadnezzar’s challenge in the process. When Nebuchadnezzar looked into the furnace, he couldn’t believe his eyes — he saw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walking around in the middle of the flames. What’s more, they had no singed hairs, no burns, and not even a smell of smoke. And even that wasn’t the most astonishing thing the king saw. Inside the furnace, there were not three, but four men — the fourth of whose appearance looked "like the Son of God!" (v. 25).

In verse 28, the king called Daniel’s friends out of the furnace and exclaimed, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God!” And in verse 29, he recognized God’s power above all other divine powers he knew; “there is no other God who can deliver like this.”

Even after nonbelievers are introduced to God and His wisdom, they may still be afraid. Culture pressures them to believe that God is for the ignorant and immature. Or they may be surrounded by a world of sorrow and pain, feeling like nobody can help them; that they screwed up too much or are stuck too deep in their situation. But as God showed Nebuchadnezzar, no pressure, situation, or fire is too great for Him to bring His people through.

Recognizing God’s power is the second step on the path to Salvation. Nonbelievers need to learn that not only is God real, wise, and involved but also has the power to take care of those who trust Him.

For more information about Awana, visit the Awana Homepage.
To find a club in your area visit the Club Locator.

God and the King: Acknowledging God’s existence & wisdom

Daniel is my favorite book of the Bible. I love reading about how Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were delivered and blessed when they obeyed God and followed His will.

But in my last reading, I realized that the book isn’t just about them, but is also about the people around them.

Take Nebuchadnezzar for example. The story of this king shows the process God uses to draw unbelievers close.

We’re initially introduced to the king at the end of the first chapter of Daniel, when he chose the best men out of the captives to enter into his personal service. He found none wiser than Daniel and his three friends, and they were all appointed.

The second chapter is where we begin to see God at work. Nebuchadnezzar was troubled by a dream, and he wanted his magicians, astrologers, sorcerers and advisers to tell him its meaning. However, even though he wanted the meaning, he chose not to tell them about the dream’s content. Some scholars believe he forgot but would recognize it when it was described. Others think that the king was not confident in the wisdom of the wise men, and that he was concerned they were deceiving him. Either way, Nebuchadnezzar believed that if they had the wisdom and insight they claimed to have, they should have been able to divulge the content of the dream along with its meaning.

Of course, none of the wise men were able to tell the king what his dream was. After asking the king to reveal the dream a couple times and the king declining, they said in verse 11, “It is a difficult thing that the king requests, and there is no other who can tell it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.”

Their ineptitude infuriated Nebuchadnezzar, and he responded by issuing an order to kill all the wise men in Babylon. So the soldiers went out seeking the wise men, including Daniel and his friends.

Word of the king’s decree and its reason reached Daniel. He asked his friends to pray, and God revealed the dream and its interpretation to Daniel (v. 31 - 45). Daniel then asked to see the king.

Daniel proved that the wise men were right when they said that only a god could reveal the dream. He told the king that his wisdom and insight was not his own, but came from God. He then proceeded to tell the king about the dream and its interpretation.

When Daniel finished, the king was in awe. “Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets," he said, "since you could reveal this secret” (v. 47).

God showed Nebuchadnezzar that He wasn’t like any of the other gods the king and his people worshiped. He was alive, wise, and actively involved in the lives of the people who served Him.

Acknowledging that God is real, wise and involved is the first step nonbelievers must take on the path to Salvation. They need to learn that He is alive, knows about the world and His people, and takes an active role in their lives.

*Interesting fact: Nebuchadnezzar was named after Nabu, the Babylonian god of wisdom. This is ironic, considering the king had to acknowledge that it wasn’t Nabu who revealed the dream and interpretation, but instead was God though Daniel.

For more information about Awana, visit the Awana Homepage.
To find a club in your area visit the Club Locator.

5 myths about Awana

When you get an organization as big as Awana, sometimes information can get mixed up or misunderstood. Below are five myths that the missionaries in my region had to debunk in their travels to start new clubs.

A town can have as many Awana Clubs as it has
groups of people willing to run them.

Myth: The official order of the colors is red, blue, green, yellow.

Fact: There is no official order.

Myth: Each town is only allowed one Awana Club.

Fact: A town can have as many Awana Clubs as it has groups of people willing to run them.

Myth: You can’t have an Awana Club until you have an official Game Square.

Fact: Some clubs run with no game square at all!

Bonus: Check out these nontraditional Awana Game areas!

Myth: Awana is only for kids within the church; outside kids cannot attend.

Fact: On average, 10 percent of the kids attending any giving club don’t attend a church at all. Awana has complete sets of resources dedicated to bringing in the outside kids, including the “Bring-A-Friend” section in the handbooks and The Great ShakeUP four-week program.

Myth: Awana can only be held in a church building.

Fact: There are Awana Clubs in schools, community centers, parks and apartment complexes, just to name a few.

Have you heard any Awana myths? Do you want to know if something you heard about Awana is a myth or fact? Share in the comments!

For more information about Awana, visit the Awana Homepage.
To find a club in your area visit the Club Locator.