At the Taste of Redeemer children had the opportunity to create a care package to be sent to the Children’s Hospital of Illinois.  We sent over 70 care packages.  We recently received a thank you note from them.

Dear Redeemer Lutheran Church,

Thank you so much for the wonderful goodie bags.  What a fantastic idea for the children.  We can’t thank you enough for thinking of the children at the Children’s Hospital of Illinois.  The bags have been such a HUGE hit.

Thanks so much,

Child Life

This year at VBS the offering that children brought in was given to the Children of Israel Orphanage in Haiti to help them rebuild their building.  Our gift was given through the Firmly Rooted Ministries who made sure the orphanage received the money safely.  Below is a letter that we recently received.

Dear Redeemer Lutheran Church VBS,

In response to your recent gift to Firmly Rooted Ministries, we join with the people of Haiti in saying mesi, thank you, for your kindness.  We were overwhelmed by your generosity!  Words cannot express our thanks.

Because of gifts like yours, Firmly Rooted has begun to make an impact in the lives of many people.  As I write, Tom and Kimberly have recently returned from Haiti where they had the opportunity to minister to the people in very tangible ways.  They, along with several family members, have become Christ’s hands and feet to many who are hurting and lacking the most basic of needs.  They have had the opportunity to address both physical and spiritual needs as they: lead Vacation Bible School and worship services, preach and teach, haul rocks, build walls, distribute clothing, provide health check-ups, teach knitting and the list goes on.

There is still much work to do but the good news is that, thanks to your generosity, people in Haiti and around the world are receiving Christ’s love and hearing the life-giving message of the Gospel.  For that we say a heartfelt “thank you.’

Peace and blessings to you,

Annemarie

Our 2010-2011 Sunday School year is well under way.  It is fun to walk the halls during our Sunday morning education hour and hear all the neat things going on in the classrooms.  Our 3 year olds had the Bible story told to them through their favorite puppet.  Our third graders reviewed the creation story using a creation globe.  And we had many new friends join us in our 2’s Sunday School class.  It was a great morning.

Something that made this morning extra special for me was seeing our 4 male teachers in action.  Often times most of our volunteers are women but there is something special about having a man in the classroom teaching and leading our children that makes a profound impact on our children.  Our young boys especially appreciate it.  These men are modeling for these boys how a Christian man lives out his faith.  And these men are teaching our children that working in Children’s Ministry isn’t “women’s work” it’s God’s work through God’s people.  I’m grateful for all of them.

In case you live under a rock and haven’t noticed, Silly Bandz are all the rage.  Children are wearing them everywhere.  For the last few weeks I have been wearing Faith Bands and have been hosting an exchange.  For every Silly Bandz a child gives me, I will give them a Faith Band.  The goal is for every child to be wearing at least 1 Christian band in to school to help them share their faith.  Some of the shapes of Faith Bands include crosses, praying hands, dove, nails, and many more.  So far I have traded over 100 Silly Bandz!

The Silly Bandz Exchange will continue for the next couple of weeks so be sure to come see me!

Who would have thought silly rubber bands would be the latest fad?

As summer winds down we have 1 more special event.  On Sunday, August 29 join us during the Sunday School hour for “A Taste of Redeemer.”  Each ministry at Redeemer will have a booth set up in the new facility to give you a taste of what that ministry does.  Come see all of the ministries Redeemer has to offer!  In order for families to experience the Taste of Redeemer together, there will be no Sunday School that morning.

Children’s Ministry will have several booths for you to visit.  Stop by the Oasis booth for a special photo opportunity.  Take a walk on the wild side at the VBS table.  Come hear all about the new opportunities for children to be involved in music ministry at the Joyful Noise table.  Put your hands to work for the Children’s Ministry service project.  Take the Backpack Challenge at the Children’s Ministry table.

There will also be a special drama presentation from the VBS Drama team and musical performances by Joyful Noise.  It will be a great morning!  Join us!

I just ordered our materials for the Oasis 2010-2011 year.  Do you have the start date on your calendar?  Starts September 8.  Get excited! 

Each month Sunday School designates its offering to go towards a different ministry.  This spring one month was dedicated to the Men’s Appalachian Mission Trip.  They used the money from Sunday School to buy the community center there a video projector.  Here is a note that was sent to Sunday School.

We were waiting until we had the video projector mounted on the ceiling so we could send some pictures together with our thanks for your group’s generous contribution to the Binns-Counts Center.

The projector will be a great help in our computer classes and also in a new project we are planning: to show educational and informational videos at the Center during the clothing sales.  At these sales, there are a sizable crowd of people and therefore, a good opportunity to reach a large audience with interesting and helpful information.

We hope to see you and all your friends at Redeemer Lutheran Church in the future and again, our thanks for your work and generosity.

Sincerely,

Program Director for Fourth World/Appalachia

God is using your offerings in big way!  Thanks for your support to all of the ministries that Sunday School supports!

Did your child have fun at VBS?  Are there some changes you would like to see made to this ministry?  Tell us all about your child’s experience in our 3 minute survey.  Your feedback helps us shape next year’s VBS.  We want to make next year better than this year and we need to hear from you!  The survey can be found at-

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RedeemerVBS2010

Did you volunteer at VBS?  We have  a special survey for all of our volunteers to fill out too.  It can be found here-

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VBShelpers2010

Thanks for helping us as we plan for next year!

Children’s Ministry received a few thank you notes in the last couple of days-

Dear Redeemer Lutheran Church VBS,

Thank you for your kind donation, which we received today.  Your generosity will make an immediate difference in the lives of the patients at the Children’s Hospital of Illinois.

Each year, Children’s Hospital of Illinois treats over 5,000 children as inpatients and another 30,000 through our specialty clinics.  Your gift helps ensure that we can continue to care for the sickest children of our region.  Further, you help us provide the comfort of having a children’s hospital close to home.

Thank you for your support of the Children’s Hospital of Illinois.  Because of your support, we will continue to be there for the children who need us.

Sincerely,

The Child Life Department

The children made over 312 care packages for the Children’s Hospital on Wednesday of VBS.  You can read about it here.

To Staff and Volunteers of Vacation Bible School-

Thank you!  Our children have had a very special week learning of God’s work.  Everyone has been so gracious, enthusiastic and caring.  From the door keepers, teachers, aides, kitchen helpers, and young people, everyone made us feel so welcome.  It truly was a special week!

It is hard to bee-lieve that VBS is over.  We really zipped, zapped, and zoomed through the entire week!  Friday was a bee-autiful day and once again the children were outside for recreation.  I can’t begin to tell you what a blessing that is!

Friday is always a very special day at VBS because it is ice cream day.  Our Bible story came from Acts 12:1-17 (18-19) where “God rescued Peter from jail.”  Peter was jailed in chains until an angel of the Lord come and rescued him from those chains.  In keeping with our Bible story, each child received a cup of ice cream that was chained by Magic Shell ice cream topping.  The children had to break through the chains to get to their ice cream just like the angel of the Lord broke through the chains to rescue Peter.  It was a fun snack!

In crafts, every child made an airplane.  Now that every child has spent the week learning about Jesus, we charged them to fly out in to the world and tell others!  Check out Mark’s plane-

Friday morning our Honey for Haiti jar was bursting out of the top because we collected so much money!  From Friday’s offering, we collected an astounding $915.30!  That gave us a total of $1516.82 collected with our daily offerings.

We also took an offering during our closing program and added that money to our Honey for Haiti jar giving us a grand total for all of VBS of $2100!!!  God really did an ama-zzzing work through His people this week at VBS and I can’t wait to send our check to the Children of Israel Orphanage in Haiti.  On Monday every child received a prayer card for a child in the orphanage.  VBS may be over, but please keep praying for your child!

Look how many children God brought to us on Friday to hear His Word!

We ended our week praising God in the Sanctuary as the children led us in the closing program.  This always brings tears to my eyes as we listen to the children sing of God’s goodness.  This year’s closing program was especially emotional as we said good-bye to one of our VBS directors who has been leading VBS for a very long time.  God certainly has used her ministry here in a powerful way.  As she leaves us for Ohio we know that God will continue to use her for His glory.

It was an awesome week.  God certainly blessed us in ways we never imagined possible.  We pray that all of our little friends had fun and grew closer to the Lord as a result.  We also pray that we will see you all very soon!