Welcome to the TrueNorth Journey Land Blog. This blog is here to help better serve families of TrueNorth Church
Please take some time to look through the tabs at the top. There you will find helpful information for families and participating as a volunteer in Journey Land.
If you have any questions please contact me at the church office. 803-279-1555.
Thank you,
Nina Fiedler-Journey Land Director
This week in Journey Land our children will be learning that “Friends Forgive Others.” Looking at the Bible story of Joseph and his brothers, Genesis 37: 1-36 and Genesis 45: 1-28 – the children will learn how to apply “God wants me to be a friend by forgiving others.
Our toddler/2′s joined our 3′s, 4′s and 5′s this past month in our new series “Spy Chase.” It has been a great experience the past two weeks teaching the children about Jesus. I hope you have been able to talk with your children each week about what they are learning in Journey Land.
We are sending home a “family devotional” with each child. This gives you an opportunity during the week to spend time with them talking about the lesson they learned on Sunday. It opens the doors at an early age to make “Jesus” the most important part of your child’s life.
Below is an overview of the lesson for September 4th, 2011 in Journey Land. We are so excited to spend time with you and your children. Thank you for allowing us to build a foundation that will last a lifetime.
OVERVIEW-Elevate Jr.
“spy clues” This activity will help the children enjoy the spy theme while parents are dropping their children off into the classroom.
“Bozo Ball Drop” Through the game, Bozo Ball Drop, children will learn how to be a good friend and forgive others.
“Bible Story” Video Portion (Genesis 37:1-36 & 45: 1-28)
“Clue Hunt” This activity time will help the children review the Main Point and Bible Story.
“Popsicle Stick Puppets” This craft will give the kids the chance to act out the Bible Story so they can remember to be a good friend and forgive others.
“Forgiveness Freeze Tag” The purpose of this activity is to teach the children they should forgive others.
For more information on what your child is learning in Journey Land – contact Nina Fiedler at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com
Thank you,
Nina Fiedler
TNC-Director
Baby Dedication
WHEN:
Due to the amazing growth of TrueNorth Church – we will hold two separate Baby dedications in 2011. Mark your Calendars, May 15th, 2011 and September 11th, 2011
Families whose last name starts with A-M will participate in the May 15th, 2011 baby dedication. And those families whose last name starts with N-Z will participate in the September 11th, 2011 baby dedication. September registration will be held closer to that date.
Registration deadline: September Baby Dedication deadline is September 5th, 2011
WHERE:
TrueNorth Church offices/The Blok, 1297 W. Martintown Road North Augusta, Sc 29841. Lunch served for immediate families only from 1:00-1:45pm. Main event will start at 2pm, all others are welcome at this time.
WHO:
Parents who want to publicly declare their intentions to raise their child with the opportunity to know God and establish a personal relationship with Christ.
WHAT:
Baby dedication will be a special event, you’ll want to invite your friends and family and bring your camera. Immediate family will be invited for a meal. Extended family members will be able to join in after for the event.
Attire? Whatever works for you and your child. Many people dress their children in special clothing, others simply bring their child in a favorite outfit.
HOW: You will find information located in “Journey Land” on Sunday mornings. Registration forms can be found online at Registration Form. Via email (only), we would like (1) picture of your child. This should be submitted before September 5th, 2011 for it to be in the presentation on September 11th, 2011. ninaf@truenorthchurch.com.
We look forward to joining with you in “Guiding your child’s first step on the journey to loving God.”
Questions: contact Nina Fiedler at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com or 803-279-1555
This week Journey land is kicking off the beginning of a new Series “Spy Chase.” It is going to be AWESOME. Here is a taste of what your Two year old’s will learn for their bible story…
Don’t miss this week parents…your gonna want to see this weeks service in big church.
Here is a song that you and your children can start learning now. Our next series in Journey land will be “Spy Chase.” It is a curriculum from Elevate Jr. and It’s AWESOME. So bring your little “spies” to Journey Land, they are gonna love it! (starts August 21st, 2011)
Our younger children will learn this song, ages toddler’s and 2′s. “I Will Be a Friend”
Are small groups for “Preschoolers?” Here at TrueNorth Church – Journey Land our 3, 4 and 5 year old’s participate in one each Sunday morning.
I Worship Jesus – 3′s
I Worship Jesus – 4′s
I Worship Jesus -5′s
During Small Group time every child gets to share a prayer request, our adult leaders pray with the children and then during the week. Here are just a few requests that I can share…
“Asks God for a Cheese Fountain.” (I want one of these too.)
“Asks God to help his family sell their house.”
“Asks God to help him get a surprise for his MeMe.”
“Asks Jesus to keep them safe.”
“Asks God for a good teacher when school starts.”
“Pray for Grandpa who died, pray for momma, daddy, grandma and everyone in our house.”
“Pray that I don’t feel nervous about school.”
Real life taking place in Journey Land. So Small Groups for Kids…Oh yeh!
Nina
Our Toddler/2′s will be sharing in our new curriculum series “Spy Chase” from Elevate Jr. starting August 21st, 2011. I am very excited. Take a look at our songs we will learn.
“I Will Be A Friend” – Elevate Jr.
Here is some information regarding our “JUmp on Up” in Journey Land. For more information contact Nina Fiedler at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com.
The children are very excited, especially our rising 1st graders. They know the time is coming. I had one child this week walk by me and say “two more weeks” and then high-five me. Exciting isn’t it!
August 7th, 2011 our rising 1st graders will visit Kidzstuff. This gives them an opportunity to see what the next week will be like. The children will check into Journey Land, they will then walk down with our Small Group leaders and crew. They will check out of Journey Land.
August 14th, 2011 is another big day. Our official 1st graders will go directly to Kidzstuff. A huge day for them. Our other areas in Journey land will also move UP.
Our lead team has spent a great deal of time observing the children the past few weeks. We have based our decisions from this time. Now, this may mean as the months pass those children who mature can be moved up. We will look at each child as an individual and what is best for them.
This is just a peek at what our children learned in Journey Land this past week.
I Will Take Care Of My Body 7-24-11
Bible Story Review
Description: The children will view two pictures, one from the Bible Story and one that is not from the Bible Story. They will be instructed to give a high five to the picture that is from the Bible Story. The teacher will review the pictures the kids high fived.
In our Bible Story today, we learned that Daniel choose to eat foods that were good for him. We are going to look at some pictures that will help us remember our Bible Story. I’ll show you two pictures. I want you to give a high five to the picture that is from the Bible Story. After we go through all the pictures, we will review our Bible Story together. Who is ready to play?
Here is the first set of pictures. High five the picture you think comes from the Bible Story. Note: Continue this way through all the picture pairs. Then review the Bible Story.
Nebuchadnezzar- A long time ago a king named Nebuchadnezzar became ruler over the Israelite people. Nebuchadnezzar ordered some of the strong, healthy, Israelite men to work in his palace. They were to be trained for three years, and then they would work for the king. The king assigned them daily food from his own kitchen.
Daniel- One of these men was named Daniel. He knew that those foods were not good for him to eat. Daniel was determined not to eat the food given to them by the king. He asked for permission not to eat these foods.
Vegetables and water- Daniel said, “Please test us for ten days on a diet of vegetables and water. At the end of the ten days, see how we look compared to the other young men who are eating the king’s food. Then make your decision in light of what you see.” The men agreed to try Daniel’s idea.
Healthy Daniel and friends- At the end of the ten days, Daniel and his three friends looked healthier than the young men who had been eating the food assigned by the king. So after that, they were fed only vegetables instead of the food provided for the others.
You all did a great job high fiving the picture that was part of our Bible Story. Let’s say what we are learning one more time today. I Will Take Care Of My Body!
Come back soon to keep up with what’s happening at TrueNorth Church Journey land. Journey land is our preschool ministry, ages 6 weeks thru kindergarten. Here you will find stories, pictures, and the happenings at TNC.
I’m still in the brainstorming mode of this site. I want it to be informational for parents, volunteer’s and those who are doing what we are, teaching kids that “God Made Me”, “God Loves Me” and “Jesus wants to be my friend forever.”
Under Construction………
Some may look at Journey land as an area they drop their children off each Sunday morning. A place that they feel safe and know that the volunteers are going to love on their children and make sure every need is meant.
Yes, it is all of these things and more. Today was one of those days that it is more apparent to me than ever that we, Journey land, are more than just a preschool ministry, we are a “FAMILY.”
Each Sunday we gather at our Columbia County and North Augusta Campuses to do what we do best, care for children. We have a crew that comes in before any of us and sets up the walls, tables, screens, etc. They set up before you or I ever open an eye lid. Then we have our volunteers who make sure all the rooms are ready for each child to arrive. We also have our tear down crew, they make sure all the items end up back on the truck. Through the heat and cold they get on that truck and pack it with all of the Journey land items.
This is where we are more than a “preschool” ministry. Last week I received a phone call from one of our volunteers and friend, Tina Walton. Tina is a volunteer in our Toddler room and her husband Steve is the leader of our tear down team. Steve has not been feeling well for the past two weeks with pneumonia. Tina shared that Steve had a scan and they found a mass in his chest. They aren’t sure what it is so they scheduled him for another test, a Pet scan.
As we gathered today to tear down Journey land we paused for a time of prayer. We put our arms around Steve and Tina to let them know that we are here for them, we are family. We will stand behind them, side by side as they step over this bump in the road. We pray that as Steve goes for his test this Wednesday that the doctors will not find anything. That God will give Steve favor and allow him to be healed of whatever this mass may be.
TrueNorth is so much bigger than just a Sunday morning service. TrueNorth is about relationships and doing life with people. Life is hard, things happen and we go through struggles all the time. It’s hard enough to deal with these things but wouldn’t it be more difficult if we had to do it alone. We don’t have too, yes, we have our friends at TNC but we also have a heavenly father who loves us and wants to be with us during our struggles. He wants to rap his arms around us and carry us through.
I am continually amazed at the things God teaches me. I am also amazed how much God wants me to be authentic with people and Him. How often have I pushed people away because I have been hurt. I build this wall to keep the pain away. As I build this wall I stand alone behind it, no relationships, lonely, pushing back the pain. But here’s the thing, if I continue to build these walls, to stand behind them so I no longer get hurt, then I will never meet people like Tina and Steve Walton, what a loss that would be.
I open myself up so that I can be used by God to walk with those who are in need. Even though I may be giving of myself what I received in return is so much more. To know that I can take a moment in time and pray, to show our love and concern for people. Isn’t that what TrueNorth Church is all about, yes, it is.
We have many families that are hurting, struggle and feel that they are at a loss. Please take a moment to pause and pray for them. You may not know their names but God does. Prayer is an amazing thing, I have seen the miracles, don’t you want to be a part of the miracle.
This Sunday, September 28, 2008, our North Augusta Campus will have our first practice “drill” in Journey land. Over the past several months, our staff at TrueNorth Church has gone over a plan to get our little ones out in a safe and timely fashion in the event of an emergency.
The next two Sundays will help us do a few things:
1. Prepare leaders and volunteers in the event of an emergency.
2. Allow our children to experience this in real time so that in the event of an evacuation they will be familiar and not caught off guard.
3. Our priority is the safety and health of each child in Journey land. This will help us do it with excellence.
If you are a volunteer and you will be in Journey land, North Augusta, be ready to spend time in your area in preparation. (We will practice this drill Sept. 28th and Oct. 5th)
Reminder: (not in a specific order)
· You will need to remember to bring your classroom logs with you as we leave the building.
· Gather the children in a calm orderly fashion and head to the closest exit marked on your evacuation diagram.
· We have ropes in each classroom; older children will hold onto one of the rings and follow in line. At this time you should do a head count of the children in your room. The classroom rolls should already be filled out and you should have an accurate head count before the “drill.”
· As you move to the outside location be reminded to continually count your children.
· Once you have reached your designated area, gather your children in a circle, do a head count, go over your classroom rolls and make sure every child is accounted for.
· In a real emergency parents would come running for their children, this is understandable, however, all policies and procedures must be followed for check-out. This will allow us to keep all the children safe and accounted for.
· The children will watch you for your reaction, if you remain calm so will the children. Explain to them that we are leaving the building, the noise is really loud and we need to find out why the bells are ringing. (note: we will have a bell that will sound giving the volunteers and children the effect they would experience if the fire alarm had gone off)
· If you are a coordinator, you will make sure your rooms/children/volunteers are out of the building, then you will head to the designated area, you will communicate with your leaders of each room and confirm all children are accounted for. You will also be security for your rooms, if this was a true emergency, as parents come to get their children you will organizes this transition.
· Remember, we are doing this so that we are prepared in case of a real emergency. Please share your comments with us. As leaders of your rooms you see things in a different way than those who are not in there with you.
We will have a safety specialist reviewing what we are doing. He is a TrueNorth member who does this for a living; I am very excited to have him with us. I believe this will allow us to better prepare ourselves in case of a real emergency.
Thank you for your understanding and participation in this drill. It is a very important part of who we are in Journey land.
**Curriculum will be prepared for all classrooms in the event we have time left over after the drill. Clubhouse will also be done on both of the above dates. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com, or Daphneb@truenorthchurch.com.
*note: Columbia County will take part in a “drill” in the near future.*
We would love to hear your comments.
Thank you,
Nina Brophy-Fiedler
TNC-Journey land Director
Over the past several months I have pondered the thought of “What Makes a Good Leader.” Being the Director of our preschool area Journey land
at TrueNorth church has been a great challenge as a leader. The “challenge” keeps me going.
Five years ago we started out with one campus in North Augusta South Carolina. Then, this year, we started our second campus in Columbia County Georgia. Next year we will start our third campus in Decatur Illinois. So as you may see, the challenges continue to grow.
In our first year my position looked like this; I was a co-director of our preschool ministry. I over saw the Classrooms, curriculum and taught the 3′s, 4′s and 5′ year olds. TNC was at one service so it was very rare that I attended a service. For the first six months of our church start I didn’t see one service. OK, maybe one or two, but for sure not in it’s entirety.
Then in our second to third year I became the Director of our preschool ministry. My great friend and co-leader, Laurie Bradford, decided to continue having babies, number 4 to be exact. With the demand of her family, she felt it best to give her full attention to them. Which by the way, I completely agreed with although I now had to go at this by myself.
That’s not completely the truth if I’m going to be honest. Laurie as a co-director replaced herself over the period of time she was in Journey land. She had many people in place so that when she finally walked out the doors of Journey land it would run as smoothly as if she was still the one there doing it.
The next two years are a bit of a blur to me. When I look back at all that has happened in Journey land I say to myself,” there is no way I could have done any of this.” There are a couple of reasons for that statement. Our number of children went from approximately 40 children to now over 100 on a regular basis. Our volunteer’s went from about 20 to now 94, approximately. And our TNC attenders went out of the roof.
My point behind all the numbers is this, “I can’t go it alone.” So here are a few things that I think are extremely important as a leader. I’m not an expert in this field, but through our mistakes and some great wins, I have learned a lot.
The list could go on and on. I am so grateful for all our volunteers and leaders in Journey Land. There are to many to begin mentioning them here. They know who they are, without them, what we do in TNC-Journey Land wouldn’t be possible. I am not “going this alone,” I never have. I have always had Christ walking by my side and passionate leaders and volunteers who have the same goal in mind, the children.
In His Name,
Nina Brophy-Fiedler
TNC-Journey Land Director
In a previous post, “More than a Preschool Ministry,” I spoke of TrueNorth being more than just a Sunday service or Journey land a preschool ministry. We are about building relationships, we are a family.
I shared a story about the Walton family, Steve and Tina. Steve had gone for a Pet Scan and our Journey land family gathered around them to pray. Over the past few weeks we have waited anxiously for the result. Today I got the call from Tina, the test came back “NEGATIVE” for cancer. I can’t tell you how joyful I was.
As I took some time to think about this “Miracle” and praise God, I started looking through scripture finding what God has to teach us about prayer. I was quickly drawn to “Psalms.” What beautiful words are spoken throughout this Book of the Bible. We are reminded that God not only hears our prayers but answers them.
Psalm 66:19
but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer.
Psalm 66:20
Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!
Take time to pray…remember to Praise Him.”
Time seems to fly by. This Sunday a group from TrueNorth Church will head to Decatur Illinois to start preparing for the Launch of our new campus. WOW! It is very exciting. In preparation for the trip we will leave at 6am Sunday morning and stop at several “Theater” churches on the way to Atlanta for our departure.
October 26h is our Facedown service at the Riverwalk Amphitheater. It starts at 5:30 pm. It’s going to be a great night. Invite your friends and family to come, it’s perfect for our fish. Childcare will be provided for ages 6 weeks thur Kindergarten (only) at ”Best Friends” daycare. Pre-registration is required. For more information please contact Nina Fiedler at 803-279-1555 or ninaf@truenorthchurch.com. Sign up stations will be located on Sunday mornings at Guest Services or in Journey Land. (Cafeteria NAHS)
Don’t miss out-Invite those who wouldn’t usually come to church to our “Confessions of a Christian Church” series. North Augusta kicked off last week and Columbia County will kick off this week. The word is out, people are talking. It’s perfect. You can see some of the articles in the Augusta Chronicle, North Augusta Today and Community Belief net.
Tommy Wafford is official as Student Pastor at TrueNorth Church. This was Tommy’s first full week in the office. You can check out my personal blog to see whats going on at Element. Don’t forget, if you have a child 6th grade thru 12th grade they should be hang in with Element. Element meets Sunday evenings for Middle school and Wednesday evenings for High school (6:30). Lot’s going on there, you won’t want to miss it. You can contact Tommy at the church office 803-279-1555 or TommyW@truenorthchurch.com.
Our evacuation drill at the North Augusta campus was off the charts. A big THANK YOU goes out to all those who put so much time into organizing this drill. We will have surprise drills every three months or so. This will keep us on our toes just in case a real emergency ever takes place. Thank you again.
CREATIVE TEAM MEETING: If you are interested in joining our team that puts the “God Made Me”, God Loves Me”, and Jesus want to be my friend forever” into all that we do, we will be meeting November 9th. at 1:30ish. (location TBD) For more information please contact Daphne Brown at daphneb@truenorthchurch.com. This is for North Augusta and Columbia County Campuses.
Thank you for all you do.
Nina Fiedler
This Sunday, October 26th we will have our “Facedown” service at the Riverwalk Amphitheater in downtown Augusta. (communion service) It’s going to be lot’s of fun, you won’t want to miss this. Starts at 5:30 pm. Hot Chocolate will be served.
Child care is provided for children 6 weeks thru Kindergarten (only) at Best Friends day care. Please contact Nina Fiedler at the church office 803-279-1555 or ninaf@truenorthchurch.com.
(TNCBlog) Word has been spreading that some of our Journey Teams from both campuses are planning to tailgate this weekend and it’s not at a football game! They will be tailgating Sunday night at FACEDOWN! Sounds FUN, doesn’t it!? Does your Journey Team want to join them? You can still make plans. FACEDOWN will begin at 5:30 pm at the Amphitheater downtown. There is a large parking lot just pass the Beamie’s parking area near the amphitheater. The forecast is beautiful, 75 degrees and sunny. Bring out all the fixin’s from 4:00 – 4:30 pm with your small group and join in the fun! It’s TAILGATING TNC STYLE!
I hope to see you all there.
Nina Fiedler
TNC Journey Land Director
Good Afternoon Parents:
As you know we are having our Facedown service this Sunday, October 26th at the Amphitheater in downtown Augusta. Child care is being provided by “Best Friends Child Care Center” located at 110 W Clifton Ave North Augusta, SC 29841(803) 279-8260. Drop off begins at 5:00pm with pick up immediately after the service.
This is what you will need to bring:
You will need to sign your child in and out. It is a regulation that must be followed. You will also need to complete a form with the following information.
When you pick up your child/children you will need to provide a photo I.D. and sign the register. Again, this is policy for Best Friends child care.
If you should have any other questions please feel free to contact me at the church office, 803-279-1555. You may email me too, ninaf@truenorthchurch.com. If it is an emergency the best way to get in touch with me is via email as I check that on a regular basis.
I look forward to seeing you this Sunday.
Thank you,
Nina Fiedler
TNC-Journey Land Director
TrueNorth Church starts their new series this week “I AM”! So the question is, What are you afraid of? You can text your answer to 803-341-4274. This information will be used in one of the services relating to our new series.
HAVE YOU TEXTED YET?
Your invited to hang out with us this Saturday, November 8th from 8:30am to 12 noon for our “2nd Saturday” event for TrueNorth Church.
What is 2nd Saturday? Well, people from the community, some from TNC, some not, gather together at the 8:30am. (419 W. Martintown Road for our North Augusta campus and the Marshall Y for our Columbia County Campus.) We have coffee and donuts together and prepare to head out to preselected sites in our community.
There are opportunities for all ages. So go ahead and bring the family, there will be kid friendly activities for everyone. We promise to have you back at the church office by 12 noon.
This month one of our stops is Ridgeview Manor.
Ridgeview Manor: Is our Adopt-A-Block. We want to show the love of Christ by building relationships and finding ways to meet the community’s needs. We want them to understand that God has a purpose and a plan for their lives. Finally, we want to teach other people how to fulfill the Great Commission by impacting our city through building relationships with people using two simple ingredients: consistency and servant hood. Some planned projects include cook-outs, oil changes, and employment training.
There are other stops planned so come out and join us for the last 2nd Saturday of 2008! We will be back February of 2009 for more great opportunities to help our community.
For more information please contact the TrueNorth Church office at 803-279-1555.
In the next few days we will be posting our Holiday Schedule. Come back soon and see what’s going on at TrueNorth Church-TNC this Holiday season. I can tell you this, we have lot’s going on and you won’t want to miss out.
COME BACK SOON!
It’s midweek and I wanted to pass along some thoughts from my heart to yours.
I’m still feeling the afterglow of the special weekend that we shared together on both of our TNC campuses this past Sunday! Sometimes we have Sunday services at TNC that I wish I could bottle and this was one of them. Not that every Sunday isn’t special, it just seems like occasionally God and his people are on the same page together in a unique way in spirit, in worship and in truth. That’s what happened Sunday! You could feel God’s presence and see his life in our people. My brother Shane (campus pastor of TNC-Decatur) said that the worship in Columbia County was the best that he had experienced from his various trips to the TNC-CC campus. In North Augusta I could sense it and see it during both of the services. God was there in a special way! What’s even more exciting is that we had our largest attendance of the fall on Sunday, 1,368 folks! I’m praying that we will continue to pray and come EXPECTING GOD as we gather each Sunday as TrueNorth Church.
I believe God has lots more in store during the month of November as we encounter “I AM” in our lives. There is no doubt that many people (young and old) are carrying a great deal of stress, fear and doubt in these uncertain times. Don’t miss the opportunity to invite your friends, co-workers and family to hear God’s hope and answers for them through this series I AM.
I just finished a couple of planning meetings for our upcoming Christmas series! I can’t wait! It’s hard to believe the Holidays are upon us. We are going to have a great time at Christmas at TNC! Keep your eyes and ears open for our upcoming CHRISTMAS PROMO!
Speaking of Christmas, both JOURNEY LAND and KIDZ STUFF have some special plans for Christmas. If you are a parent of a preschooler or elementary student be sure to keep a look out for some special OPPORTUNITIES for you and your child to be a part of during the Holiday Season!
My prayer is that God will continue to SHINE his LIGHT through you in your homes, work places and schools this week. Remember, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light….” Have a great week and I will see you Sunday!
In His LIGHT,
Steve Davis
Lead Pastor
God Made Me, God Loves Me, and Jesus Wants to be my Friend Forever
Christmas Eve Services
This will be our first Christmas Eve service at TrueNorth Church. Our Columbia County Campus will start at 6pm. Childcare will be provided by “Best Friends” day care out of North August. We have an awesome relationship with the center and have used them for many events. We will start checking children in at 5:30pm.
Our North Augusta Campus will have services, 3:30pm, 5pm and 7pm. (7pm service not firm) We are asking volunteers to sign-up and serve for one service and be served in the other. Please contact Amie McDavid or your classroom Coordinator with your December availability.
(Times subject to change due to attendance numbers)
The children on both campuses will have a fun night. Our theme is “pajamas”. You can bring your child in their Christmas PJ’s. We will watch movies and make reindeer food to take home and leave out that night for Rudolph.
December Curriculum
We have a lot planned for the month of December for the children. Packets are in the process of being put together and will be handed out this Sunday, November 23rd, 2008 at each of the campuses. Please look through them. It is extremely important that you are familiar with the curriculum for each week you are scheduled. In order for the children to get the full experience of Jesus’ love we will all need to be on the same page with the information provided for you.
December 14th, 2008 we will celebrate Jesus’ birthday. Our Clubhouse will be decorated for the occasion. Katherine Smith and her team have put a lot of time into picking out songs and preparing for this event. All three Campuses will be participating. We will invite parents to join their children for one service on the North Augusta Campus and then attend the other. If you are on the Columbia County campus this time will be shortened so that parents can also go to service. Decatur will celebrate with their children as suited for their location. If you would like more information you can refer to your curriculum packets or contact Nina Fiedler at 803-279-1555, Journey Land Director.
(Columbia county will have a meeting 11/30/2008 to discuss December curriculum. If you are volunteering in Journey Land you are encouraged join us for an hour after service. Please contact Nina Fiedler. )
Journey Land REMINDER
Please make sure your coordinator knows if you will be going out of town for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. (see contact page)
Clubhouse Corner
Journey Land would like a few more volunteers to help out in Clubhouse (where we go for “big group” time). If you would like to help with the computer, puppets, songs, hosting, or many other behind-the-scenes jobs (or if you know someone who would be a great fit), please contact Katherine Smith for the North Augusta campus (caldersm@comcast.net) or Nina Fiedler for the Columbia County campus (ninaf@truenorthchurch.com)
OTHER TNC NEWS
We will once again participate in “Angel Tree” this year. Look for the tree in the lobby Sunday, November 30th, 2008.
Why not give the gift of coffee this Christmas season. TrueNorth will have its very own Guatemalan coffee on sale for $10.00 a bag. Do you have one of those family members who you never know what to get them? This may be the perfect gift for them. If you want more information you can call Mike Fiedler at the church office, 803-279-1555 or email him at mikef@truenorthchurch.com.
Christmas Series
Why Christmas? The season is here, the questions are asked; why not invite your family and friends to join you over the Holidays to TNC. Invite those fish.
We are wishing you and your family a Happy and safe Holiday season. May God bless you!
The Journey Land Team
TRUENORTH CHURCH
WE HAVE COFFEE;
Why not give the gift of coffee this Christmas season. TrueNorth will have its very own Guatemalan coffee on sale for $10.00 a bag. Do you have one of those family members who you never know what to get them? This may be the perfect gift for them. If you want more information you can call Mike Fiedler at the church office, 803-279-1555 or email him at mikef@truenorthchurch.com.
JOURNEY LAND VOLUNTEERS;
We are having three services on Christmas Eve, 3:30pm, 5pm and 7pm. (North Augusta Campus only) We are asking those of you who may be in town to help out on this very special night in Journey Land. Make this a night for all to remember, those from 1 to 92. If you are interested in volunteering in Journey Land for this one time event, please contact Nina Fiedler at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com or at the church office at 803-279-1555. High school students are encouraged to participate.
The Big Switch; (8:30am, 10:00am and 11:30am North Augusta Campus)
Have you heard? The” BIG SWITCH” is coming. January 4th we officially start our three services in the Auditorium. YES! We are very excited. There are many volunteer opportunities available for all. If you haven’t gotten connected yet this is a great time to start. Volunteer once a month, twice a month or every week. You can help out with Journey Land, in or out of a classroom or any other area in the church from greeters to making cookies. What ever your interest we have a place for you. Contact the church office at 803-279-1555 or email ninaf@truenorthchurch.com for more information.
Columbia County;
Can you say 2nd Saturday? Well, we may have taken a short break from our regular scheduled 2nd Saturday, but Columbia County has taken an extra step to get out into their community this Christmas season. Keep posted for opportunities in your area to give someone the Christmas spirit. If you would like more information you can contact David Bryan at the church office 803-279-1555 or email him at Davidb@truenorthchurch.com
***I will continue to update this site with all activities scheduled for the month of December. Keep an eye out in the lobby each Sunday to see what’s new at TrueNorth Church. As always, if you have any questions please contact me at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com***
This Sunday December 14th, 2008 on the North Augusta and Columbia County Campuses we will be celebrating Jesus’ birthday with our Parents and Children.
COLUMBIA COUNTY CAMPUS: Parent’s are invited to join us from 9:45 to 10:10 for coffee and donuts. Meet the leaders of Journey Land and see what happens on a Sunday morning.
NORTH AUGUSTA CAMPUS: Parent’s are invited to spend the day with their child. Come walk through a day in Journey Land with your child. Learn what they learn and see what happens while you are in Big Church. If you usually attend 9:30 service then stay with us at the 11:11 service. And if you attend the 11:11 service then join us for the 9:30 service. (children can stay for both services)
We will sing songs and have birthday cake. Children will learn about the birth of Jesus in an age appropriate way. We will have activities for all to participate in.
As a reminder, Christmas Eve services are at 6pm for our Columbia County Campus, check in starts at 5:30pm. Children are encouraged to come dressed in their Christmas PJ’s. We will watch movies and make some Reindeer food for Rudolph.
Our North Augusta Campus will have two services, 3:30pm with check in at 3:00 and our 5:00pm service with check in at 4:30pm. Children are also encouraged to come dressed in their Christmas PJ’s. We will watch movies and make some Reindeer food to leave out that evening,
The children are going to have lot’s of fun while learning the meaning of Christmas, Jesus Christ.
We look forward to seeing you over the Christmas season. If you haven’t picked up your tickets for the Christmas Eve services then please do so this Sunday. We will once again be selling coffee for those coffee lovers.
You heard it here first, we are selling TNC long sleeve t-shirts starting this week at both campuses. They are $15.00 each. It’s a great present for anyone on your list.
Journey Land wishes you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Nina Fiedler
TNC-Journey Land Director
January is just around the corner and many of you have heard the “BIG” news about the “BIG SWITCH” starting January 4th, 2009. For those of you who have not, TrueNorth Church will be adding a third service, 8:30am, 10:00am and 11:30am on our North Augusta Campus. We will “Switch” from the Gym of the high school to the Auditorium.
Journey Land, 6 weeks – kindergarten will be providing a safe and fun place for parents to leave their children during all three services. Kidzstuff, our 1st-5th graders will meet in the Gym at the 10:00am & 11:30am services only.
With the “Switch” and adding the third service there will be openings for more volunteers. Over the past several weeks we have spoken to our volunteers to see what service they are able to volunteer in. As always we encourage each of you to invite a friend or family member to join you on Sunday to “come and see” what Journey Land is all about. (background check must be done prior to serving)
Journey Land isn’t just about caring for crying babies. That is a part of it and one that I personally love. Holding those new born babies brings me such joy. But for some that doesn’t make them tick. So, we have other area’s that could bring you the same joy.
First Impressions: Do you like people? Do you like to talk? Do you have a great smile and personality? If so this may be the place that brings you the greatest joy in Journey Land. Our Host team greets first time visitors and their families and introduces them to Journey Land. (see First Impressions page for more information)
Production: Do you have a crazy personality? Do you like computers and behind the scene stuff? This area is wide open, from writing and/or performing puppet skits to singing and dancing to setting up the stage. A lot goes into getting this area ready for the children. (for more information contact Nina Fiedler at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com.)
Administrations: So you know that you don’t want to be in a room with children, but you love organization and people. We have so many opportunities for you. Classroom Coordinators, First Impressions Coordinators, Data Entry, Scheduling, Curriculum, Office Elves, Check in and out, Security, Set-up and Tear down. (contact Nina Fiedler at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com.
We in Journey Land are a family. We take what we do to heart. Our main goal is to keep every child safe and healthy. Our vision is to teach each child that “God Made Me”, “God Loves Me”, and “Jesus Want to be My Friend Forever.” If you want to become part of our team you can contact the Journey Land Director, Nina Fiedler at 803-279-1555 or ninaf@truenorthchurch.com.
I hope you will take time out and pray about being involved with Journey Land on all of our campuses, North Augusta, Columbia County and Decatur.
Thank you,
Nina Fiedler
TNC-Director
DON’T FORGET! OPERATION CHRISTMAS:
KIDZ ON A MISSION
Will be collecting Canned Goods and Non-Perishable Food items this Sunday as they prepare food baskets for the families they are reaching out to this Christmas.
Collection sites will be in the auditoriums on both North Augusta and Columbia County Campuses. We are also collecting these items to meet some benevolent needs among our own families at TrueNorth Church. I want to challenge everyone to respond to this opportunity this Sunday by blessing others with some food items this Christmas! LET’S BRING IT SUNDAY.
Volunteer Information:
Columbia County Campus:
This Sunday, December 21st will be a regular set up & tear down day.
December 24th we will set up Journey Land as usual. After service we will need to move all items into the Art room which is our 3′s, 4′s & 5 year old room. (the school will be cleaning floors and carpets over the holidays)
December 28th we will move all items from the Art room into the proper rooms for Journey Land set-up. After service all items will be moved outside to be loaded on the truck.
**If you will be on campus the 24th please come and give us a hand**
North Augusta Campus:
December 21st and 28th we will be able to stay set up in the cafeteria. January 4th will be a regular tear down day. January 11th the set up crew and tear down crew will be on full duty.
January 4th starts the beginning of our 3 services, 8:30am, 10:00am and 11:30am. We are in the process of organizing a crew for tear down to handle all items in the cafeteria. There will be further instructions and information as we meet and discuss the issues.
REMINDER:
December 28th we will meet in the Auditorium on the North Augusta Campus. (9:30am & 11:11am) This Sunday will be our last week in the Gym.
for more information contact the TrueNorth Church office at 803-279-1555.
Merry Christmas
TrueNorth Church wishes you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
From all of us in Journey Land, Merry Christmas! May God bring many blessings to you.
Nina
Our Journey Land family wishes you and your family a Happy New Year!
The new year will bring a few changes to Journey Land. As many of you know we have been promoting the “Big Switch” for several weeks now.
Starting January 4th, 2009 TrueNorth Church (North Augusta Campus) and Journey Land (6wks-Kindergarten) will be offering three services. (8:30am, 10am and 11:30am)
TNC has “Switched” from the Gym of the high school to the Auditorium. Journey Land will continue to meet in the cafeteria and Kidzstuff (1st-5th grade) will now meet in the Gym. (Kidzstuff-10am and 11:30am services only)
Those who will volunteer in our first service (8:30am) are asked to arrive in Journey Land by 7:45 at the latest to set up your classrooms. All other services are asked to leave 5-10minutes before service is over and head to Journey Land. This will assure the other volunteers that their replacement is there.
If you volunteer in our 11:30am service we will ask that you remain in Journey Land to help tear-down your rooms. All items in each room must be wiped down with Clorox wipes before each service and before they are stored on the truck. You will be responsible for making sure all toys are packed in a container and items are ready to be moved to the loading area.
As we move through the month of January we will learn many lessons. We will be able to determine how many classrooms we will need each service, what services are being attended more, should we have production all three services and exactly what our tear-down team looks like.
I ask that you please be patient. We encourage you to share your idea’s with us. Going to three services is going to be a team effort, we don’t have all the answers but we are eager to learn side by side with you.
I also wanted to thank each of you for your amazing service in Journey Land. Without you and your dedication to our children, I’m not sure what Journey Land would look like. Thank you from all of us at TrueNorth Church for making Journey Land a place that every parent can bring their child.
May all of you have a blessed 2009. Be Safe!
Nina Fiedler
This Sunday our Columbia County campus celebrates its 1 year old birthday! It was a year ago this Sunday that about 70 folks (kids included) launched TNC’s first multi-site campus at Augusta Prep. The journey as been an exciting one filled with lots of learning for all of us. Under the capable leadership of Jay Knotts and David Bryan, TNC-CC has enjoyed a year of growth and ministry. We can’t say enough about the committed group of people that have taken the vision of TNC across the river. Thanks to each of you who have sacrificed and committed your lives to “transforming spiritual seekers into passionate followers of Christ.” We know we have just begun and there is much more that God wants to do, but this weekend we pause to CELEBRATE what God has done! We celebrate 25 baptisms, an average attendance of 177 folks and five healthy Journey Teams in our first year of ministry!!!! What a year!
If you attend TNC-CC you don’t want to miss this Sunday! You’ll get to enjoy a piece of birthday cake as part of the celebration! We will also have another special surprise so bring a “fish” or “friend” with you to the party at TNC-CC!
We continue our New Year’s series, THE BIG SWITCH ON BOTH CAMPUSES! Start your New Year off by jump starting your relationship with God at TNC and invite someone to come with you!!! It’s going to be a BIG DAY! Don’t forget our TNC North Augusta campus service times for 2009, are 8:30 am, 10:00 am and 11:30 am in the auditorium. Kidz Stuff meets in the gym at 10:00 am and 11:30 am.
I say this often, but I really mean it! I can’t wait for Sunday, can you?!!!!!
Praying Big Prayers to our Big God!
Steve Davis
Lead Pastor
TrueNorth Church-Journey Land (6wks. -Kindergarten) Located in the cafeteria of the North Augusta High school.
We have a committed team of volunteers who would enjoy “loving” on your child. Please join us at one of our services, 8:30am, 10:00am, or 11:30am on our North Augusta Campus and 10:10am at our Columbia County Campus.
Vision (Who we are!)
Our desire is to help parents in “Guiding their child’s first steps in the journey to loving God.”
How do we do that?
We teach less for more-Repeating on key truth (Bottom) all month long.
We engage the five senses-Helping master the concept through creative activites.
We Teach with the end in mind-Helping a child by age five, to believe:
GOD MADE ME, GOD LOVES ME, AND JESUS WANTS TO BE MY FRIEND FOREVER.
Experiencing Worship-Encourages children to talk to God any time, any place.
Connecting at Home-We provide parents with idea’s for conversation with their child at home.
Each Sunday morning is full of objects for kids to touch, wild and wiggly activities to get them moving, crafts they will love getting into, and real life situations they can relate to.
The idea is to help each child master one concept at a time by creatively repeating the Bottom Line in a way that it will stick.
Each teaching session begins with activities to introduce kids to the day’s topic and help them feel welcome and comfortable in their classrooms. Next, preschoolers take part in a large group (Club House) that includes a Bible story and worship. We believe that our preschoolers are wired to worship! So each week we include a worship segment with suggested music to encourage s to openly express their love for who God is and to praise Him for all He has created.
After large group, (Club House) we then take part in a variety of activities that will help them apply what they’re learning. And finally, during small group time children will begin to understand that they can talk to God at any time and in any place. Kids will be encouraged to openly communicate with God in their own words while developing their ability to know and worship Him.
For more information please contact Nina Fiedler, Journey Land Director at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com or visit our Journey Land blog.
We appreciate your patience with us (and the kids and each other!) as we transition from two services to three. We now have less time with the kids, so we created a new class schedule to help you with the “flow.” Each service is designed to last for 65 minutes, so a typical day in JourneyLand should look like this:
TODDLERS AND TWOS
10 minutes- free play (1 on 1 curriculum activities can be done at this time)
25-30 minutes-Clubhouse
10 minutes-curriculum activities, coloring sheets
15 minutes –snacks and diaper changes
THREES THROUGH FIVES
10 minutes-snack *please note we moved this up to make time for curriculum
35 minutes-Clubhouse and bathroom
20 minutes-curriculum activities and Make It Real (focus on Bible story)
Any remaining time should be spent on packing up kids’ belongings and cleaning the room.
We would also like to stress how important it is that you arrive on time. First service volunteers should arrive by 7:30. Rooms need to be set up and ready for children who arrive at 8. Second service volunteers should arrive by 9:30 so we can have a transition room for children arriving for this service, and also to relieve workers from first service so they can get to church on time. Third service volunteers should arrive by 11 for the same reasons. For our third service volunteers, we ask that you would stay until all of your kids have been picked up, and that you return all sanitized toys/supplies/etc into your big boxes. Tables (and diaper changing pads) should be sanitized as well. Trash should be thrown in the big trash can.
If you attend the service before you serve, we ask that you sit somewhere so you can leave after the prayer and before the announcements/final song(s).
A final suggestion: If things aren’t “flowing” like they should, it’s ok! Keep in mind that the #1 priority in JourneyLand is the health and safety of the children in our care. After that, we want the kids to know that God made them, God loves them and Jesus wants to be their friend forever.
Thank you again for your service and dedication to JourneyLand! We could not do what we do on Sunday mornings if it wasn’t for each of you!
It has taken me a few weeks to actually get up enough courage to post something so personal to me. It’s not just personal to me but it’s a part of “Who” Journey Land is.
You see, I haven’t always been the director of Journey Land. There is a beginning that many don’t know about. If you haven’t been with TrueNorth Church from the start you may have missed part of it’s foundation.
Many know the Bradford family. You know Kevin because he has been our worship leader. You may know Laurie, his wife, from her awesome smile and kind, gentle ways. Of course, if you volunteer in Journey Land/Kidzstuff then you know their children, Austin, Stephen, Zane and Ella.
In order to get the full picture I will have to start from the beginning. My husband Mike and I are part of the original group that started TrueNorth Church. If you know either of us it is definitely apparent that we are from the “North.” So you might say some people had to get to know us.
Not Laurie and Kevin, they were the first ones who welcomed us to North Augusta and the family of TrueNorth Church. Those days bring back such great memories, not just the plant of the church, but the beginning of an awesome friendship.
As we continued to meet at the Hammond Hills Elemetary School, Laurie was led to step up and direct Journey Land. At that time we didn’t have volunteer’s, baby furniture, structure, a system, policies, etc. You name it, it had to be put together.
Once I found that Laurie was going to lead this ministry I immediately stepped up and joined her. I knew by her character that she was a person who 1) I wanted to get to know better and 2) I wanted to learn from.
Over the next two years Laurie and I partnered together to build the foundation of what Journey Land is today. (Yes, along the way we had many people to help with that process. )
Her ability to communicate with people, her love and heart for Jesus moved us forward each week. Her administrative abilities are above most and it allowed us to keep our children in Journey Land safe and healthy. One of our top priorities still to this day.
It wouldn’t be a complete story if I didn’t once again mention her children. Austin and Stephen were the first two to come into Journey Land. Stephen, a beautiful child knew exactly how to push Laurie’s buttons. I would just look at him and laugh. Laurie thought I was absolutely crazy. How could I be sitting there laughing as her child threw a temper tantrum? I just knew what he was doing to her and he knew it too.
Then along came Zane, my little man, another beautiful child. Each time Laurie would come to tell me she was pregnant, once again, I would laugh at her. I just know she continues to think I am the craziest person she knows. But I loved it, each time I was just so excited for her and Kevin. You can’t ask me about having kids cause I’m gonna tell ya, YES!!!!
Then along came Ella, the baby, and a girl! We prayed really hard for a girl. Overwhelmed with three beautiful children, knowing she was blessed, along came their fourth child. I was so happy and excited it was a girl. But again, I just laughed.
By this time Laurie knew that her responsibility was with her husband and children. With sadness for both of us, Laurie stepped out of Journey Land as a leader. I think one of the hardest days for both of us.
Being the great leader she is, Laurie didn’t just leave, she replaced herself with a wonderful person who has stepped right into the administrative roll Laurie once held. Actually it takes two people now to do what Laurie did then.
Now comes another chapter in the lives of the Bradford’s. One that will separate us once again, but with many states in between. I look at the journey they are about to embark on. Am I sad, yes, but I can not help wonder what God has planned.
Kevin and Laurie have been a major part of what and who TrueNorth church is. That will never change, so in reality, a part of them will forever remain here. And again, in reality, a part of us will go with them. When you do this thing called life together, when you take such an important thing such as Christ and you look to build His kingdom, how could it be that we wouldn’t always be together, no matter where our paths may lead us.
I have learned a great deal from the Bradford family. One, that having four children is funny. Two, that loving Jesus doesn’t have to be complicated and three, that I can once again trust in people by relying on Jesus Christ.
Mike and I will miss having Kevin and Laurie around, but honestly, I think it’s possible that we may actually see each other more when they are in Tennessee. At least we will be intentional about setting up times to visit.
I look forward to continuing our friendship and watching their ministry grow.
With great sadness and JOY!
Nina Fiedler
What is the meaning of Journey Land? What makes Journey Land click? Who set’s up and tears down? So what’s my responsibility? What curriculum do we use? Should I take that child to the bathroom and why aren’t men allowed to change diapers?
These are just a few of the questions we hear in Journey Land. Well, now is your chance to get those questions and more answered.
March 14th, 2009 from 9am to 12 noon we will get together at the “Depot” off of Riverwatch parkway (Student Ministry Location).
We will start off the morning with donuts, and of course, our TrueNorth Church “Guatemala” coffee. This gathering will be very informational. If you volunteer in Journey Land this is one of the requirements you will need to meet.
If you don’t volunteer already and are interested but don’t know the details, then come join us. This is an open meeting, invite a friend, if you know of someone at TNC who isn’t volunteering, ask them to join you. It may be just the place God is calling you and them to be.
Although you will receive a lot of information it doesn’t mean it won’t be fun. Fun is on the top of my favorites list. What we do is so important, but it’s also important to have fun while doing it.
For more information or to sign up for the class, please contact Nina Fiedler-Journey Land Director @ninaf@truenorthchurch or 803-279-1555.
I hope to see many of you there.
Nina Fiedler
This past week-end my husband Mike Fiedler and I went up to Decatur Illinois for the first of two practice runs. March 1st will be the actual launch day.
It was a wonderful time. We drove up a 26ft. (?) Budget truck filled with everything but the kitchen sink. We might have taken that to, but I didn’t see anyone standing in line to send it up.
Our first night we stopped in Nashville Tennessee (Happy Valentines Day Honey) with an early morning wake up call. Back on the road again at 6a.m. ish. Making it to Decatur by 2p.m. their time. (Son Christopher in toe.)
Sunday morning 5a.m came very early. We were at the Theater ready to unload the truck. Waiting for us was an awesome crew of guys and gals. Eyes wide open, not really, but ready anyway. Things seemed to role right off the truck into the proper places.
Once inside we had everything up and ready within a few hours. Not even one hick-up as they say. Steve did look a little short and blump on the screen but we will have that fixed by next week.
Jackie Davis is our Journey Land Campus Director. Praise God for this awesome lady. Jackie and her family committed to leading Journey Land just a few short days before we landed in Decatur. It was a lot of fun hanging with them and even talking about some off the wall stuff. I thought I might have scared them away. But anyone who really knows me, knows that I am harmless.
I look forward to seeing what God is going to continue to do in Decatur. What an awesome group of people they have. We were welcomed with open arm’s. I felt like I have known most of them for years.
Keep praying for Decatur, the official launch date is March 1st, like I mentioned before. They will have another practice run this Sunday, February 22nd, 2009. This time without me and Mike. They are going to do a fine job.
I have a few pictures of the campus on my facebook page. Gotta be my friend to see them. I’ll try to post a few up on this site if possible. I haven’t mastered this task as of yet.
Keep posted for more news as it comes available. Way to go God, truenorth is awesome! We love you.
Nina Fiedler-Journey Land Director
Sunday mornings at 6:00 am, setting up Journeyland and Kidz Stuff, someone is there. Sunday mornings at 7:00 am, setting up the parking lot and auditorium lobby, someone is there. Sunday mornings, during each and every service, handing out programs, directing traffic, baking cookies, answering questions, someone is there. Sunday afternoons, tearing down the morning’s transformation from school to church, someone is there. Monday, helping count the offering; Tuesday, making copies of Journeyland curriculum; Wednesday, rehearsing for Kidz Stuff productions; Thursday, calling first time visitors; Friday, assembling programs; Saturday, setting up technical equipment, someone is there.
Not one hour of one day goes by that a volunteer isn’t helping to make TrueNorth happen. We don’t say thank you enough to all of our selfless, amazing volunteers. They are the heart of TNC and they make everything you see, and everything you don’t, possible. So thank you, thank you, thank you to all of our volunteers. I might be a little biased, but we truly have the best volunteers ever!
And if you want to be a part of making TrueNorth happen, email serve@truenorthchurch.com or visit the Volunteer Central table on Sunday morning.
Katie Czapala
Director of Volunteers
FORSYTH – Pastor Steve Davis sat inside the large theater in Hickory Point Cinemas.
He wasn’t there to watch a blockbuster movie on the giant screen. Instead, the pastor from North Augusta, S.C., was making sure everything was in place to launch his new church, TrueNorth, inside the theater.
The first public worship service will begin at 9:33 a.m. Sunday.
“My wife and I recognized the need for the style of church that we created – one that is seeker-friendly, not as many barriers with clothes and stained glass windows, and have an environment for people that was easy to come into,” said Davis, 44, who launched his nondenominational church inside a South Carolina high school in 2004.
He started out with a handful of couples and has since seen the church grow to 600 members. He opened a second TrueNorth church campus in Augusta, Ga.
Instead of the traditional church building and hymns, you’ll hear secular music playing at the beginning of worship, such as “Living on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi or “All You Need Is Love” by the Beatles, Davis said.
TrueNorth Church in Forsyth will be Davis’ third launch but the first in a theater.
Renting space at theaters is a growing trend nationwide.
One major chain, National CineMedia, which manages 1,400 theaters nationwide, said it rents space to about 200 churches.
“These are multimillion dollar buildings, and it’s great for the churches because of the low cost,” said Barry Brown, director of worship services for National CineMedia.
Brown observed that most theaters sit empty on Sunday mornings, and he said there’s an increase every year in the number of churches renting them.
Carmike Cinemas, which owns Hickory Point Cinemas in Forsyth and Strand 10 Cinemas in Decatur, also has been in the business of renting space to churches.
Last November, the Rev. B.K. Smith started Harvest Bible Chapel at the Strand 10 Cinemas.
That first Sunday service brought out 150 people to the movie theater, Smith said, and since then, an average of 110 people have come to worship.
“I didn’t know what to expect, but now people know we are there. One lady came up to me and said she felt safe coming to the theater. She told me how she felt uncomfortable going inside a church,” he said.
Smith said it’s not about a building but winning souls and bringing the unchurched to God.
“If you are an unbeliever and never went to a church, it’s like you need to know some secret handshake, but we get rid of all that. Now what used to be unbelievers are coming and inviting their unbeliever friends.”
TrueNorth’s Davis said he found that offering a different church setting tended to draw in more of the unchurched.
Because his church sites are portable, with no debt or mortgage payments, there is flexibility to open up more sites in the near future.
National CineMedia’s Brown called this the multisite movement, with some churches choosing to be in multiple locations across the country.
Davis grew up in Mount Zion, and he finally has the opportunity to open up a church in his home state.
His sermons will be recorded and, through a digital stream, downloaded on the Internet and played on the big screen at the Forsyth theater.
His brother, Shane Davis, will be leading the worship service, which includes a live praise band.
Shane Davis, 38, is the former youth pastor at Tabernacle Baptist Church.
He admitted he is pumped and excited about using the Hickory Point theater to serve God.
“I will be the pastor of this church, doing all the pastoral duties on site. And Steve will teach and bring the message,” he said.
Both brothers agree it’s not about where a person worships but who they worship.
“Jesus said you come to worship me in spirit and truth. And the theater becomes our sanctuary, it becomes a place where God’s people come together, and as we worship him, his spirit presides,” Steve Davis said.
“It’s a beautiful thing.”
Journey Land Easter Outreach:
We invite you to join with us in our first annual Easter outreach project! Our focus will be on a pediatric day treatment center for medically fragile kids (Pediatric Services of America) located in Augusta, Georgia. You can visit www.psahelathcare.com (the national website) for more information.
PSA is an extensive rehabilitation facility. There mission statement is “Caring for kids, it’s who we are and what we do.” Although PSA does receive funding, it is not always enough for books, toys, diapers or any other “extras” to help make each child’s day special. For this reason, we ask you and your children to help us collect the following items for the local PSA facility.
We will collect these items on our North Augusta and Columbia County campuses in our Journey Land areas starting March 8th through Easter Sunday, April 12th, 2009. (New items only please) You may also drop them off at the church office.
*Plastic or plastic backed bibs (sizes infant-large)
*VeggieTales, nursery rhyme, or other child friendly CD’s or DVD’s.
*Playground balls
*Small plastic child sized basketball goals
*Children’s books
*Receiving blankets
*Disposable diapers, especially preemie size
*Small plastic bowls to be used for feedings
*Toys, (balls, puzzles, animal sets, manipulative’s, etc.)
For more information please contact Daphne Brown at daphneb@truenorthchurch.com
What our Journey Land Children will learn from this experience:
During the month of March, our Journey Land children will be learning about some of the kids that spend time at PSA. We encourage you to take time to ask them about what they are learning, and how they would like to help.
In our curriculum for the month of March, we will discuss one of our key concepts in Journey Land, “Jesus wants to be my friend forever.” Through these bible stories your children will learn that “Jesus wants to help everyone,” “Jesus can help the people I care about,” “Jesus can do anything,” and “Jesus wants to help us live with him forever.”
Easter Sunday on our North Augusta and Columbia County Campuses:
On Easter Sunday, April 12th, Journey Land will celebrate in a BIG way. We will party it up with inflatables and an Easter Egg Hunt for the children. Please dress your children in play clothes as they will be outside for a short period of time and getting lots of exercise on the inflatables!
We are also excepting donations of plastic eggs and candy suitable for children ages 1-6. (please no chocolate in case it is hot outside.)
What else is happening?
“Adopt A Block” project. (There is an increasing need in North Augusta and the CSRA to reach out to those in their time of need. Teams complete minor home repairs, facilitate children’s programs, as well as gather for various community events. All you need is a willingness to help your neighbor.)
TrueNorth Church will have it’s second annual Easter Egg hunt at Ridgeview Manor, our “Adopt A Block” project. It will be held March 28th at 10am until 2pm. There will be games for the children, face painting, inflatables, and of course, our Easter egg hunt. Come join us for a day of great fun. If you would like to help out or get more information please contact Nina Fielder at the church office 803-279-1555 or ninaf@truenorthchurch.com.
More Information:
Journey Land has been very blessed. We are so grateful for all our volunteers. As we have moved to three services on our North Augusta campus, we have seen many people step up and join our AWESOME team in Journey Land. We are thankful for each of you.
We continue to challenge ourselves to make Journey Land on all three of our campuses the best it can be. We evaluate all that we do on a regular basis, and with that evaluation we have learned that our time in Journey Land is very limited. The time we have with the children each week is minimal. So much to teach and so very little time.
With the above mentioned we have tried to make what we do in that short period of time matter. In our observation we had to cut back on time in a place that wasn’t of great impact on the children. So, we have cut back on the time it would take to serve the children snack. We feel that taking this time to focus on teaching the three basis concepts to our children, “God Made Me,” “God Loves Me,” and “Jesus wants to be my Friend Forever,” are of great importance in building a Christ like foundation for our precious little ones.
So what does that all really mean? Well, instead of taking the 15-20 minutes that it takes to serve a snack, we are now serving a fixed amount of cookies and water. We are no longer focusing our time on serving juice and multiple amounts of different food items. Instead, we will focus our attention on the curriculum of the day and the activities that allow us to be one on one with the children in their life lesson.
If you should have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact Nina Fiedler, Journey Land Director at the church office or Ninaf@truenorthchurch.com.
Once again, thank you volunteers for your dedication. Thank you parents for allowing us to care for your children in a loving environment. And for giving us the opportunity to partner with you in building a Christ like foundation for your child.
Nina Fiedler-Journey Land Director & Crew…
Mark your calendar, March 28th, 2009 from 10am to 2pm, we will have our second Easter Egg Hunt at Ridgeview Manor.
Bring the kids, bring the family for lot’s of fun. There will be blow-ups, face painting, games, prizes, music, and of course, our annual Easter Egg Hunt for ages toddlers – 10 years old. Age groups will be as follows, 0-2, 3s &4s, 5s-7s, and 8s-10s.
The food will be cook-in, so come and have an awesome day out with the family.
If you are interested in helping out or donating Easter Eggs/stuffed (no chocolate) please contact Nina Fiedler at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com or 803-279-1555.
I hope to see you all there.
Nina Fiedler
TNC/Journey Land Director
Journey Land Easter Outreach:
We invite you to join with us in our first annual Easter outreach project! Our focus will be on a pediatric day treatment center for medically fragile kids (Pediatric Services of America) located in Augusta, Georgia. You can visit www.psahelathcare.com (the national website) for more information.
PSA is an extensive rehabilitation facility. There mission statement is “Caring for kids, it’s who we are and what we do.” Although PSA does receive funding, it is not always enough for books, toys, diapers or any other “extras” to help make each child’s day special. For this reason, we ask you and your children to help us collect the following items for the local PSA facility.
We will collect these items on our North Augusta and Columbia County campuses in our Journey Land areas starting March 8th through Easter Sunday, April 12th, 2009. (New items only please) You may also drop them off at the church office.
*Plastic or plastic backed bibs (sizes infant-large)
*VeggieTales, nursery rhyme, or other child friendly CD’s or DVD’s.
*Playground balls
*Small plastic child sized basketball goals
*Children’s books
*Receiving blankets
*Disposable diapers, especially preemie size
*Small plastic bowls to be used for feedings
*Toys, (balls, puzzles, animal sets, manipulative’s, etc.)
For more information please contact Daphne Brown at daphneb@truenorthchurch.com
As most of you know by now the original date for the Ridgeview Manor Easter Egg Hunt has been changed due to rain. It is now Sunday, (tomorrow) March 29th from 4pm to 8pm.
We are asking all volunteers to meet us at Ridgeview at 2:30pm. We will gather to start setting up our area’s. If you haven’t contacted us about volunteering you are more then welcome to come out and help. We always have room for more volunteer’s.
If you thought you missed out on dropping off eggs you still have time, bring them to church in the morning and drop them off at “guest services” or in “journey land.”
Thank you all for your willingness to help our community have a fun Easter holiday. I look forward to seeing all of you at the Egg Hunt.
If you have other questions you can email me at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com
Thanks Nina
The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.
–John 1:14 (The Message)
Jesus’ neighborhood was a rural, agricultural society in first century Palestine. Our neighborhood is the CSRA with a laser-like focus on an eighty-eight unit apartment complex in twenty-first century North Augusta, SC.
Jesus came to us and met us where we were. This past Sunday’s Hip-Hop Easter Egg Hunt was another opportunity for the people of TrueNorth to continue to meet the people of Ridgeview Manor right where they are.
If Jesus was here today, I fully believe He would do exactly what He did then–immerse Himself in the culture and hang out with real people in the real world. Adopt-a-Block is just that–an opportunity for us to be insolated, not isolated while showing the love of Christ to people who may be far from Him.
I can’t possibly thank all the TNCers enough for making the Easter Egg Hunt at Ridgeview Manor a tremendous success. You guys are amazingly selfless and dedicated!!!
See the North Augusta Today article here
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More photos in North Augusta Today’s Spotted gallery here.
Mike Fiedler
Missions Pastor
JOURNEY LAND
GOD MADE ME, GOD LOVES ME, AND JESUS WANTS TO BE MY FRIEND FOREVER.
The Bible tells us about Jesus’ last supper with His friends. In Matthew 26:26-30, it says:
While they were eating, Jesus took bread. He gave thanks and broke it. He handed it to his disciples and said, “Take this and eat it. This is my body.”
Then he took the cup. He gave thanks and handed it to them. He said, “All of you drink from it. This is my blood of the new covenant. It is poured out to forgive the sins of many. Here is what I tell you. From now on, I won’t drink wine with you again until the day I drink it with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.
“In Luke 23:44-49, we learn about Jesus’ death:
It was now about noon. The whole land was covered with darkness until three o’clock. The sun had stopped shining. The temple curtain was torn in two. Jesus called out in a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my very life.” After he said this, he took his last breath.
The Roman commander saw what had happened. He praised God and said, “Jesus was surely a man who did what was right.”
The people had gathered to watch that sight. When they saw what happened, they beat their chests and went away. But all those who knew Jesus stood not very far away, watching those things. They included the women who had followed him from Galilee.
“Finally, Matthew 28:1-7 tells us the good news, about His resurrection, which was when he rose from the dead:
The Sabbath day was now over. It was dawn on the first day of the week. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
There was a powerful earthquake. An angel of the Lord came down from heaven. The angel went to the tomb. He rolled back the stone and sat on it. His body shone like lightning. His clothes were as white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
The angel said to the women, “Don’t be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here! He has risen, just as he said he would! Come and see the place where he was lying. Go quickly! Tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead. He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
As our week comes closer to this Sunday, April 12th, we encourage you to personally read over these scriptures and learn what Jesus did for each of us. We also encourage you to share with your children/family the story of Jesus Christ.
Easter is a time for family visits, egg hunting and traditions. Make it a tradition in your family to find the true meaning of Easter. Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins and who rose again, He is ALIVE!
We in Journey Land wish you and your family a happy Easter.
Upcoming Events”:
April 12th, Journey Land Easter Egg Hunt on North Augusta Campus and Columbia County Campus.
April, 2009, Journey Land Easter “OutReach” project.
May 17th, 2009, Baby dedication
May 2009, SUMMER SERVE- What is it? Look for more info. in the future….
Summers are filled with plans…trips to the lake, vacations, ball games, picnics, pool parties…and the list goes on. Everywhere you look, families are taking advantage of time away from school and the beautiful summer weather. Even though kids don’t have the usual loads of classes or preschool activities, their capacity and desire to learn still grows. In Journey Land and in KidzStuff, our kids will experience a summer filled with life-changing lessons from the Bible- flooded with loads of summer fun.
Summer is also a great time to slow down the routine pace a bit to try something new and exciting…and what can be more exciting than being a part of reaching Kids for Jesus Christ. Here at truenorth church, Summer Serve gives you the opportunity to do just that! As you make summer plans, please consider the unique opportunities available to serve Christ by serving His kids throughout the summer season. The opportunities are many, and the joys of watching our children grow in their knowledge and love of Jesus Christ is priceless.
Looking forward to doing summer with you in Journey Land or KidzStuff!
For more information please contact Nina Fiedler @ ninaf@truenorthchurch.com or daphneb@truenorthchurch.com
803-279-1555
Well, it happened. God was at work this past Easter Sunday at truenorthchurch-Journey Land. It was truly an amazing day.
The morning started at 5:30am for most of us in Journey Land. The blow-ups had to be delivered and set up before our 8:30am service on the North Augusta Campus. I did find out the hard way that the cafeteria ceilings are 14ft tall. Now most wouldn’t think that was a big deal. I’m hear to tell you that it is a HUGE deal when you have blow-ups that are 16ft and taller. Needless to say, we got them moved outside, and set up. Praise God for awesome weather. (A personal thank you to Jeff Cook from Bump-N-Bounce Blow ups-(803) – 279-4400)
What can I say about our volunteer’s? To put it in perspective I would like to quote our Pastor, Steve Davis.
“I love our VOLUNTEERS who make it HAPPEN EVERY SINGLE WEEK RAIN OR SHINE! I love our KIDS MINISTRIES in JOURNEY LAND and KIDZ STUFF – THERE IS NONE BETTER! I love our BANDS and MUSICIANS; they work hard and give their best every week! I love our STAFF. I’ve never been more excited about the LEADERS God has given us to lead TNC and our campuses! Finally, I love our Great God! There is NO ONE LIKE OUR GOD!”
The children, WOW! How amazing they are. As I walked onto our Columbia County Campus and North Augusta Campus, I saw children learning the most awesome story of all, the “Easter Story.” Yes, we had blow-ups and an Easter Egg Hunt and the children had an awesome time, but Easter is about Jesus. I hope you will talk with your children about what they learned.
As I have shared in some of my other posts, numbers aren’t everything. But, they are a way to allow us to plan for the future and celebrate the wins. What are wins? Well, for us at truenorth church, we would say lives changed. This past Sunday we saw a total of 77 people get baptised. That is just so powerful.
As I stood on our North Augusta campus watching the spontaneous baptisms, I couldn’t help but be in awe. The most amazing sight was when a young man was asked what his testimony was. He replied, “I’m ready to die.” Tears came to my eyes, I couldn’t hold it back. The Holy Spirit was in this place, no one can doubt that.
We had a total attendance of over 2100 people on all three campuses. Journey Land North Augusta had 154 children and 66 volunteers. Columbia County had 31 children and 12 volunteers and Decatur had 6 children and 2 volunteers. SO! if you left Journey Land feeling like you put in a full days work, you did! Job well done, thank you.
baby dedication at truenorth church - An opportunity for parents to focus today on what will affect their child’s future.
CONGRATULATIONS – on your decision to raise your child in the ways of the Lord. No one will have more influence on your child than YOU! We believe that what happens at home is more important than what happens at church. It is our hope that we can partner with you from the very beginning. We want to be your biggest fans, your strongest supporters, and your trusted guides as you raise your child to know what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Baby dedication is more than an event. It is an opportunity for you to take some time at the beginning of your journey as a parent to really think about what will matter the most in the life of your child; to really talk together and decide what you value and what you can do today that will have the greatest impact on your child’s future.
WHEN:
North Augusta Campus | Sunday, May 17th, 2009 @ 1:00pm (auditorium)
Columbia County Campus | Sunday, May 17th, 2009 prior to the 10:10 service, (auditorium)
Registration deadline is May 13th, 2009
WHO:
Parents who want to publicly declare their intentions to raise child/children with the opportunity to know God and establish a personal relationship with Christ.
WHAT:
Baby dedication will be a special event, you’ll want to invite your friends and family and bring your camera.
Attire? Whatever works for you and your child. Many people dress their children in special clothing, others simply bring their child in a favorite outfit.
HOW: On both the North Augusta and Columbia County Campuses you will find sign – up sheets located at “Guest Services” and “Journey Land.” You must register either of those places. Then, via email, we would like (1) a picture of your child and/or family, whichever you prefer. This should be submitted before May 8th, 2009 for it to be in the presentation on May 17th, 2009.
We look forward to joining with you in “Guiding your child’s first step on the journey to loving God.”
Questions: contact Nina Fiedler at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com or 803-279-1555
Summers are filled with plans…trips to the lake, vacations, ball games, picnics, pool parties…and the list goes on. Everywhere you look, families are taking advantage of time away from school and the beautiful summer weather. Even though kids don’t have the usual loads of classes or preschool activities, their capacity and desire to learn still grows. In Journey Land and in KidzStuff, our kids will experience a summer filled with life-changing lessons from the Bible- flooded with loads of summer fun.
Summer is also a great time to slow down the routine pace a bit to try something new and exciting…and what can be more exciting than being a part of reaching Kids for Jesus Christ. Here at truenorth church, Summer Serve gives you the opportunity to do just that! As you make summer plans, please consider the unique opportunities available to serve Christ by serving His kids throughout the summer season. The opportunities are many, and the joys of watching our children grow in their knowledge and love of Jesus Christ is priceless.
Looking forward to doing summer with you in Journey Land or KidzStuff!
YOU CAN SIGN UP SUNDAY MORNINGS ON OUR NORTH AUGUSTA CAMPUS AT OUR TENT OR ON OUR COLUMBIA COUNTY CAMPUS IN THE AUDITORIUM LOBBY.
Nina Fielder – Journey Land Director-803-279-1555-ninaf@truenorthchurch.com
Sheila Mendell – KidzStuff Director-803-279-1555-sheilam@truenorthchurch.com
TrueNorth Church is promoting it’s “Summer Serve” event with $5.00 T-shirts. You can pick up your t-shirt at the Summer Serve table Sunday mornings in front of the Auditorium doors or in Journey Land (6 weeks-kindergarten) or Kidzstuff (1st grade – 5th).
The shirts are to get people asking questions about “Summer Serve.” What is Summer Serve? Well, it’s an opportunity for those who have not gotten connected in an area to serve on Sunday mornings. It gives them the opportunity to get involved without feeling pressured to commit on a full time basis. (available openings June-August)
Many people want to get involved, they just don’t know how….we have solved that problem. Come to our Summer Serve tent located in from of the auditorium and get information about serving this summer.
For more information please contact Nina Fiedler-Journey Land Director at 803-279-1555 or ninaf@truenorthchurch.com
We look forward to hanging out with you over the summer. There are lot’s of fun things planned in both our children’s area’s. Come ready to have a BLAST!
“UnPacked” is what Journey Land calls it’s most AWESOME meetings. They aren’t just your regular kind of “meetings,” boring! They are fun and energetic, isn’t that how kid’s learn anyway! Big kids that is.
This Saturday, May 30th, 2009 we will meet at the “Depot.” It is located at 3002 Riverwatch Parkway in Augusta. 9am-12noon. Don’t worry, we will feed you. There will be coffee and donut’s to start us off. Gotta have my coffee!
This session will go over our Summer curriculum and some of the in’s and outs of what makes Journey Land tick. I encourage anyone who is volunteering in Journey Land or who would like to volunteer in Journey Land to attend.
If you have signed up for “summer serve” or still don’t know exactly where you would like to volunteer at truenorth church, then this meeting is for you. It will define for you what Journey Land is.
If you have any questions or would like to find our more about Journey Land then please contact me, Nina Fiedler at 803-279-1555.
I look forward to sharing with you how special our little ones are to us.
Nina Fiedler
TrueNorth Church/Preschool Director/Journey Land (6 wks.-kindergaten)
Sunday’s message was an extension to the What Might Jesus Say series as Steve shared where he sees TrueNorth heading. Some of the things discussed were the upcoming One Prayer series that begins this coming Sunday, the search for land for a building and increasing the amount of Journey Teams for people to do life together. All of these things fall under the mission of TrueNorth, which is to transform spiritual seekers into passionate followers of Christ.
The important thing to remember about being in God’s will is that he will be with us. As the staff and leaders are seeking God’s direction, it is reminiscent of the the book of Joshua. Chapter 1 verse 5 says, No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you. It’s when we continue to seek God’s vision that He continues to lead us on His path.
It may be difficult to follow God when you can’t see where He’s going, but as Joshua 1 continues, we find out his prescription is to be strong and courageous (v. 6-9). To do this, we need to be careful to obey all His words.
At TrueNorth, our motto is to “lift up, love in and live out.” When we lift up, we are pointing people to Jesus. Loving in is learning to love others by committing to authentic relationships with other Christ followers. To live out is to utilize our vocations, gifts and global impact in the Kingdom. From inviting others to church to joining a J-Team to going on a mission trip, there are places to do these things at TrueNorth Church.
Jesus is going to change the world through us, but we must go and obey (Joshua 1:16-18). This doesn’t equate on us agreeing on everything we do, but that we’re all at a concensus with the mission of the church. That’s what makes impact happen!
Who is God to you? Join us for One Prayer 2009, a global movement where we’re living out what we’re learning about our never-ending God. Beginning this Sunday at TrueNorth Church. See you there!
Hey TNC’ers! Here’s what is coming up…
Volunteer Luau We want to say thank you to all of our volunteers! Sunday, June 7th will be the annual Volunteer Appreciation Night. This year, we will have food, fun and a movie at the water park at The Family Y on Wheeler Road in Augusta beginning at 6:00 PM. Information and sign up cards are available at the Volunteer Central table on Sunday or at the church office.
Graduation Recognition This Sunday, June 7th, we encourage all grads to attend the 11:30 service where we will recognize every TNC high school graduate with a gift. We will also have a time of prayer to commission each of our students as they take their next step on their journey as a Christ follower. This will only be done in the 11:30 service. There is no sign up necessary, just be in attendance. We look forward to honoring you on your accomplishments this Sunday.
Cross Training Sports Camp The TNC CROSS TRAINING SPORTS CAMPS for BOYS & GIRLS ages 6-12 is coming June 8-12! Each morning from 8:30 -11:45 am, at Riverview Activities Center in North Augusta, your child will receive ”Quality Sports Instruction with a Christian Purpose” in either basketball or soccer. Brochures and registration forms will be available Sunday at Guest Services. Cost is $50.00. This ministry is for the entire community, so be sure and invite your friends. If you would desire to sponsor a child with a scholarship, please contact our offices at 803-279-1555.
2nd Saturday Join us on Saturday, June 13th to impact the CSRA. We meet in North Augusta at the church offices, 419 W. Martintown Road at 8:30 am and transportation to the volunteer locations is provided. June locations are North Augusta Habitat for Humanity, Christ Community Health Services (Widows Home) and Ridgeview Manor where we will be working with the “Ridge Kids” as part of our Adopt-A-Block program. Kids are welcome and no tools or skills are required. We will have you back by noon. For more information, email Mike Fiedler at mikef@truenorthchurch.com.
Blood Drive As part of Junes 2nd Saturday and in conjunction with the North Augusta Family Y we will also be hosting the Shepherd Community Blood Mobile from 8:00am – 12:30pm. Give Some Drops, Get Some Dippin’ Dots. All donors will receive a coupon for a FREE medium cup of Dippin’ Dots Ice Cream
Need more info? Check out www.tncblog.com!
Have a great week!
TrueNorth Church
Hey TNC’ers! Get your calendars ready…
2nd Saturday Join us on Saturday, June 13th to impact the CSRA. We meet in North Augusta at the church offices, 419 W. Martintown Road at 8:30 am and transportation to the volunteer locations is provided. June locations are North Augusta Habitat for Humanity, Christ Community Health Services (Widows Home – this Saturday, lawn tools are needed for this project) and Ridgeview Manor where we will be working with the ”Ridge Kids” as part of our Adopt-A-Block program. Kids are welcome and no tools or skills are required (except as noted). We will have you back by noon. For more information, email Mike Fiedler at mikef@truenorthchurch.com.
Blood Drive As part of June’s 2nd Saturday and in conjunction with the North Augusta Family Y, we will also be hosting the Shepherd Community Blood Mobile from 8:00am – 12:30pm. Give Some Drops, Get Some Dippin’ Dots. All donors will receive a coupon for a FREE medium cup of Dippin’ Dots Ice Cream!
Migrant Camp As part of TrueNorth Local Impact, volunteers make visits to a women’s Hispanic Migrant Workers camp in Edgefield County during the summer. Bi-weekly trips to provide physically as well as spiritually through a small group Bible study start this Wednesday, June 10th. For more information, email Mike Fiedler at mikef@truenorthchurch.com.
Band Auditions A limited number of auditions will be held for musicians and vocalists on Saturday June 27th. For more information, email TJ Barton at tj@truenorthchurch.com.
Guatemalan Missions Team Who knew North Augusta would become a missions destination?! This Sunday, we get our own missions team!! Our sister church, El Camino, in Guatemala City is sending a team to help out with our local missions for a week. They will be involved with Migrant Camp Ministry and other TrueNorth Ministries. Be sure to say “Hola” and welcome them to TrueNorth!
At TNC, we love our little ones! Every week we prepare a special service planned just for them in Journey Land in the cafeteria. Therefore, we ask that all children in kindergarten or younger not attend services in the auditorium. We believe Journey Land at TNC is the best preschool ministry in the CSRA! Our VIPS work hard and love your kids, so please take your children to the age-appropriate service.
Still need more? Check out www.tncblog.com or the TrueNorth Facebook Page!
Have a great week!
TrueNorth Church
Journey Land Summer Curriculum Guide
JUNE BOTTOM LINE: God will teach me
Curriculum is taken from My First Look, as usual. There will be 3-4 activities, games or crafts in each appropriate age group.
Production will differ slightly from “normal” during June.
June 7: Clubhouse as usual.
June 14: Last Clubhouse of the summer, Buddy and Carrie say “goodbye” until September.
June 21: Father’s Day (there will be an additional craft this day for Dad).
June 28: Bible stories are provided in the curriculum for small group leaders to go over with their class (this includes the toddlers and twos).
CD players will be in each room, and each room will receive a CD of summer songs. There will be scheduled time to play music in each classroom.
After June, we will break up July and August into 3 sections: Noah, Jonah, and Friendship.
NOAH’S ARK
July 5: Small Group Leaders will have an age appropriate Bible story to introduce the story of Noah, and we will have a special guest teaching our kids how to act like animals (as if they needed the help!)
July 12: A “Camp Guide” will come to reinforce the story of Noah’s Ark in a big group setting (for toddlers-5K). There will also be an age appropriate Noah’s Ark craft this day.
JULY 19: Water Fun Day! Bring your bathing suit, towel and sunscreen!
JONAH
July 26: Pajama day as we watch “Jonah: a VeggieTales movie
August 2: A “Camp Guide” will come and introduce the Bible story of Jonah in a big group setting (for toddlers-5K). There will also be related activities and coloring sheets.
August 9: Small Group Leaders will have an age appropriate Bible story to reinforce Jonah, and a related craft will be provided.
FRIENDSHIP
August 16: Age appropriate Bible stories to express to our kids that “Jesus wants to be their friend forever. We will focus on salvation on this day. A “Camp Guide” will come into reinforce this concept (for toddlers-5K)
August 23: We will learn how Jesus wants us to treat our friends using some wisdom from the show “Yo Gabba Gabba.” We will also have a special guest on this day to teach us how to dance! 5k classes will be visiting KidzStuff with their SGLs and parents
August 30: Age appropriate Bible story about how to be “fishers of men.” There will also be a craft. A “Camp Guide” will come into reinforce this concept (for toddlers-4s)
5K classes promoted to KidzStuff, will not check into Journey Land.
*We will have other “special guests” from time to time not listed on this guide.
HOW??
How will this work?
You will receive a curriculum packet with all the Bible stories, crafts, activities, and games. We will tell you what to do, what to say, and what you will need (and, as always, we will provide all the necessary materials.)
How will I know what to do and when to do it?
For June, our schedule will stay as is (schedules are posted in each classroom notebook).
Beginning in July, each week a schedule will be handed out with your activities and times. Since each week is different, your schedule will most likely be different every week. We will still make time for snacks and bathroom/diaper changes. Your curriculum packet and schedule will be your guide to running a successful class!
WHY??
Why are we changing things up?
We wanted to change things up and have a “Camp Journey Land” theme. We wanted a way to get out the wiggles (hence the dancing and some kid’s yoga).
WHAT??
What about music? The kids love the music!!
Fear not! We haven’t forgotten about music! Each class will have a CD player and a CD to use all summer long. When and what to play will be included on your schedule each week. In fact, we’ll even be providing a CD to take home for our weekly and bi-monthly volunteers in the toddler-5K rooms so you can listen to and memorize the songs.
What else?
Over the course of the summer, we will be encouraging our older kids to earn beads on necklaces by memorizing Bible verses, good behavior, perfect attendance, bringing friends, learning the books of the Bible, etc (we will give you more information on this later).
We will also run a competition in July to see which classroom can bring the most offering – by WEIGHT – to Journey Land.
Who knows what other fun things may come up over the summer…and if you have great ideas, then please share, after all Journey Land is a team effort!!
So what is a volunteer? Well, Webster defines it as “a person who voluntarily undertakes or expresses a willingness to undertake a service.”
I personally think this definition doesn’t tell the story to good about our volunteers at TrueNorth Church. There is so much more to this definition of a volunteer. Let me share with you what it takes each Sunday morning to get Journey Land (preschool ministry) up and running; then making our area look like it did before we showed up, actually make it look better.
Each Sunday morning our volunteer’s show up at 6:00am. That’s right, 6:00am. While you and I are getting our beauty sleep our AWESOME volunteer’s are putting the final touches on the Cafeteria to make it a safe and fun place for our children to attend.
Now, if you have never been to the cafeteria I welcome you to come and take a look. There are colorful walls to make our area appealing to the children as they walk in. We have a large screen in our production area, tables, chairs, puppet area, check in and out area, strollers, porta-cribs, containers with supplies, high chairs, walkers, rugs, and the list goes on. My point is this, someone has to put all this stuff up and that’s where our set up team comes in.
You see, we don’t really get to see them that much. As I mentioned before, we are usually sleeping nice and comfy in our beds when they are at the high school setting up the cafeteria. Much of what they do isn’t mentioned to most, we kind of take it for granted that our childrens areas will be set up and ready to go when it’s time for service to start. I don’t think anyone intentionally thinks this, we just go on with our everyday lives and it just sort of happens.
So that’s the set-up team. But it doesn’t stop there. Now we have those who come to each of our services to care for all those children that attend Journey Land. On average we run anywhere from 100 to 110 children on a given Sunday. Now that’s awesome…reaching that many children for Jesus. But again, it takes volunteers to make this all happen. So we have volunteers who care for the children. What does that look like, well…some volunteers show up at 7:30am to help with the final touches of Journey Land before any child walks through the doors. Then they stay, teach a class, sing songs, puppet skits, run computers, change diapers, security, and of course, the list goes on. Not all volunteers are in the classroom. That’s what’s so great about Journey Land.
Remember, we have three services. So take the above and multiply that by 3. It takes approximately 42 volunteer per peek to make Journey Land classrooms work. That’s with 2 volunteers in each classroom; that’s not including any production people, security people or check in and out volunteers. We could add an additional 20 volunteers per week possibly more. That would give us a total of approximately 62 volunteer’s each Sunday morning. Let’s not forget the set up and tear down crew not in that figure.
Ok, so now we are to the tear-down crew…its summer, it’s hot…or its winter and it’s cold. We are portable so the elements are part of what we encounter. This crew comes in after everyone else has left and put’s all the items we use each week back on the truck. One by one the pieces are taken down, removed from the cafeteria and gently (most of the time) put away. Everyone else is at lunch visiting with friends and family and our precious volunteers are transforming our area back into the cafeteria of the high school A lot of sweat is put into making this happen.
Now what I have mentioned above is what happens on a “normal day.” It’s a lot, so much heart and love is put into all of this, so much time and sweat is given. Our volunteers love what they do, they care, they want Journey Land to be the best place a parent can bring their children and know they will be safe.
Let’s look at it when something is thrown at us at the last minute. Of course we can’t predict that our Air-conditioning unit in the cafeteria is going to go crazy. So now we through in the unpredictable move from the cafeteria to the lobby of the gymnasium after the cafeteria has been set up for the Sunday services.
WOW! What can I say; to most this would be a great time to vent our unhappiness about things. But NO! Not our volunteers at TrueNorth Church.
I was so encouraged by their willingness to jump in and get the job done. This meant taking most of the items (maybe half) to the lobby of the gymnasium and setting up Journey Land. It also meant that Kidzstuff and Journey Land had to share this area. Everything as we know it had to be changed, our scheduling, our production, our areas, I mean everything. And again, not even a whisper of a complaint.
Now let’s go back to tear-down. As you may remember I mentioned we had set up in the cafeteria, moved half the stuff to the lobby. So what does this mean? We had to tear-down in two different locations, the cafeteria and the lobby. Now try doing that in 90 degree weather without air-conditioning. Again, not one complaint. Our volunteers were encouraging me, I’m the leader right?
As I close with my story from above, I say this. I can’t think of any other place I would rather be than with my volunteer’s at TrueNorth Church. I am inspired by their giving hearts. The willingness to do anything that needs to be done, and more importantly their Love for Jesus Christ which shines through them as they serve.
I want each of you to know, I love you very much, what you do is so important and does not go without notice. I am sure when the time comes, Jesus will say to each of you “Job well done my good and faithful servant.”
May God Bless you!
With my heartfelt thanks,
Nina Brophy-Fiedler
Director-Journey Land
Parent’s! You aren’t going to want your children to miss out on this one. Sunday, July 19th, 2009 we will have a “Splash” of a day in Journey Land. Children ages 3 thru kindergarten will participate in our “Water Day” in J-Land.
All three services, 8:30am, 10:00am and 11:30am we will have a “BLOW-UP” WATER SLIDE set up outside for our children. (Children 2 years old and younger will participate with inside activities, bounce house and games.)
The following are a few guidelines so you and your child will be prepared when you visit Journey Land.
Activities will include:
I hope that you find this to be a fun event for your child. Please invite your friends this week. Maybe, just maybe they will want to come back the next Sunday.
Reminder: July 26th, 2009 is our Pajama day in Journey Land. We will be showing a kid friendly movie. Dress your child in some comfy pjs! We will also have a special visitor on this day…..Hunter the dog! Please make us aware of allergies so we can make proper arrangements for your child.
This past month we have studied the bible story of “Noah’s Ark.” “Trust the Lord with all your heart.” Proverbs 3:5. It was a wonderful month with the children. I believe everyone involved had a blast. Watching the leaders interact with the children, singing, dancing, and telling the stories was a joy to watch. I hope you have asked your child a little bit about what they are learning in Journey Land.
Our next series will be on “Jonah.” This should we a hoooooot…..”God’s way is perfect.” Psalm 18:30. We have lot’s of crafts to do, new songs to learn and lot’s of activities to keep our children engaged. Who knows what they will walk away with, but three things they will know for sure, “God Made Me,” “God Loves Me,” and “Jesus wants to be my friend forever.”
We are looking forward to partnering with you on this journey.
With appreciation,
Nina Fiedler, Journey Land Director
Pajama Day in Journey Land!
www.truenorthchurch.com
July 26th, 2009 is our Pajama day in Journey Land. We will show a kid friendly movie. (Jonah movie) Dress your child in some comfy pjs! We will also have a special visitor on this day…..Hunter the dog! Please make us aware of allergies so we can make proper arrangements for your child.
Our next series will be about“Jonah.” This is going to be a WHALE OF A TIME…..”God’s way is perfect.” Psalm 18:30. We have lot’s of crafts to do, new songs to learn and lot’s of activities to keep our children engaged. Who knows what they will walk away with, but three things they will know for sure, “God Made Me,” “God Loves Me,” and “Jesus wants to be my friend forever.”
We are looking forward to partnering with you on this journey.
With appreciation,
Nina Fiedler, Journey Land Director
Join us this week as we kick off our new series “JONAH.” Each Sunday Journey Land/Truenorth Church is available all three servies. 8:30am, 10:00am, and 11:30am. Bring your children ages 6 wks. thru kindergarten for lot’s of fun and excitement. What a better way to learn about Jesus.
I can’t believe it but we officially are back to school tomorrow. It only seems like yesterday that summer started. It really went fast.
This summer in Journey Land we had so much fun with our “Camp Journey Land” theme. We had many visitors who danced with us, played with us and taught us that God made me, God loves me and Jesus wants to be my friend forever.
One highlight was our visit from “Hunter” the dog. The children and adults loved watching him do tricks. He was so gentle with the children, he just laid there and allowed them to pet him.
We talked about “Noah and the ark,” Jonah and the Whale,” and this week we talked about friendship. I was blessed to hang out with the children this week in our Clubhouse time. This is one of the things I love most about Journey Land. As adults, we are always so worried about what others think. In Journey Land you can be a kid and the children just love it.
I have to say, I was just amazed with the children today. We talked about the scripture John 3: 16, “God loves us so much that he gave his one and only son.” I asked the children what this really means, gave his son? We shared that God’s son is Jesus and that Jesus wants to be our friend forever. So how do we have Jesus as our friend forever I asked? Well, to my amazement a 4 year old boy shared that “you pray to God and ask Jesus to be your Savior. He said, “When we have Jesus is in our hearts there is a party in heaven.” WOW!
So now I am thinking, he can’t really understand what he is saying right? I ask him, so we can say that Jesus is our friend, his reply, He is our Savior. This really opened up a time for the children and I to talk about this friend we call Jesus. Our key points:
I loved that once I opened it up to the children they shared with me in only a way a young child could. They are so innocent, their minds are filled with purity and love. It’s wonderful watching them learn new things and explore their feelings. When they get it, it’s like this light in their heads goes off and it shines right through them. Amazing.
One of the funniest things happened while I was teaching the lesson in Clubhouse. As I mentioned earlier, I love what kids have to share. It was no different with another boy who is also 4 years old. Every time I would say something he would comment in this evangelistic voice, “that’s right.” I was waiting for him to start singing, “Preach it girl.” Oh how I laughed today. I believe he just might have a bit of preacher in him. I can’t wait to see what he grows up to be.
Over the next few weeks we have a few things going on in Journey Land/TNC. Here are some dates to remember:
Hoping your day is as wonderful as mine has been.
Nina Fiedler
TNC/Journey Land Director
If you’re a parent of a child between the ages of six weeks and five years at TrueNorth Church, Journey Land is likely a big part of the TNC experience for you. Today’s staff thoughts are from Nina Fiedler, Director of Journey Land. See what she has to say about our fifth birthday and all God is doing in Journey Land.
1. What does TrueNorth Church turning five mean to you?
TrueNorth has made such an impact in our community over the past five years. If we asked, “If TNC didn’t exist tomorrow, would we be missed?,” I believe our community would know we weren’t here anymore.
I reflect back on where we have come and ahead to where we are going, from just a few families meeting in a living room, to Hammond Hill Elementary School, to now, North Augusta High School. How many people along the way have been touched by TNC? How many lives have been changed? How many people have come to know Jesus Christ?
Turning five means we still have a long way to go. It means that we have done so much. It means that we aren’t done yet. It also means that I love my church, and I love Jesus Christ’s Church. I look forward to those who will come to know us and through us Jesus. I thrive each time I hear the stories that come from Journey Teams; the relationships and the love that is poured out to each other. Nowhere have I ever seen this kind of friendship; doing life together in a REAL way.
When I attend a 2nd Saturday event or participate in any of our outreach opportunities, I am in awe of what God is doing through TrueNorth Church. The people: that’s what it’s all about. The volunteer’s, their time and love they give, it’s amazing. Or, when you see a child run up to you and open their arms so wide to give you the biggest hug ever, well, there isn’t anything better. That’s what happens at TrueNorth Church. Lives are changed. 5 years means changed lives, 6 years will mean even more lives changed. Come and See!
2. How has God used Journey Land to make an impact?
Journey Land is just one part of the puzzle at TrueNorth Church. If we didn’t have this piece, parents wouldn’t have the opportunity to attend a service on Sunday mornings. We want to partner with them in guiding their children’s first steps on the journey to knowing God. We teach them that “God made me,” “God loves me,” and “Jesus wants to be my friend forever.”
Over the years, we have seen such a huge growth in our ministry area. Families are coming, and they are bringing their children. Parents want to know that their children will be cared for. Not just cared for, but loved on, held, cuddled, nurtured and given that special attention that every child deserves. In Journey Land, we have what I consider the best of the best volunteers ever. A lot of time goes into our volunteers, asking the right questions. The reason for this is because we desire that each volunteer truly wants to be in Journey Land. Not because they feel there is a need, but because they want to be there. This makes a huge difference in the lives of our children.
We also believe that every age child is able to learn something about Jesus each time they visit with us. We are not a babysitting serve, and we take that very seriously. Babies are sung to, crawlers are read to, toddlers and two’s have age-appropriate activities and 3’s, 4’s and 5’s participate in small groups.
In my leadership training, I always share a story. In short, it goes like this: “We may only have one opportunity to share Jesus Christ with a child who walks in on Sunday morning.” Let it be our very best!
3. What are some of your favorite things about Journey Land?
I ABSOLUTELY love the children. From the first moment they walk into Journey Land, I can’t wait to see what they are going to do. Their smiling faces bring me such joy. I know the idea is for us to teach the children, but honestly, I think I learn so much more from them. I could tell you story after story about the things they say, I laugh so hard at times. I love when I can get down on their level, being silly, dancing, singing and just having a good time with them. The hugs and kisses are just the icing on the cake for me. There is truly so much more to all of it. Bottom line: I love them and they love me, just for me, silly Mrs. Nina. I couldn’t ask for anything more rewarding.
The volunteers are another thing that blows me away in Journey Land. I can’t say enough about them. Their dedication to the children, their love, commitment, energy, time, patience, and so much more is done with EXCELLENCE. They know what they do truly matters, it’s serious business caring for our precious children; making sure they are safe and healthy is a very important part of Journey Land.
I, again, could tell you story after story that would show you the dedication of our volunteers in Journey Land. If you would like to read more about Journey Land volunteers you can check out our blog at http://journeyland.wordpress.com. Look for “Volunteer’s at a portable church.” Here, I share what it takes to make Journey Land happen each Sunday morning.
A few words from the blog:
It takes approximately 42 volunteer per peek to make Journey Land classrooms work. That’s with 2 volunteers in each classroom; that’s not including any production, security or check in and out volunteers. We could add an additional 20 volunteers per week possibly more. That would give us a total of approximately 62 volunteer’s each Sunday morning. Let’s not forget the set up and tear down crew not in that figure.
4. Where do you see God taking Journey Land in the future?
I see God continuing to grow us, improving us and allowing us to minister to parents and children. This takes time, energy and people. God has always provided for Journey Land. He will continue to be our main focus as we look for creative and fun ways to reach the children.
Mark 10:14-16 – The Little Children and Jesus:
‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.
Let us be the hands and feet of Jesus; guiding their first steps on the journey to knowing who their Heavenly father is; showing them that “God made me,” God Loves me” and “Jesus wants to be my friend forever.”
Join us for all the 5 Year Anniversary festivites THIS weekend, starting off with DUNK’D at Riverwalk Amphitheater this Saturday at 7:30 PM (tailgaiting starting at 5), and then our 5th birthday celebration Sunday morning, where there will be a FACEDOWN communion service and a BIG announcement! TNC, LET’S PARTY!
As the weekend quickly approaches, we are finalizing all plans and details for our 5 YEAR OLD BIRTHDAY! It’s going to be a special party that you don’t want to miss!
The party begins Saturday night in downtown Augusta at the Riverwalk Amphitheater. From 5:00 – 7:00 pm join us in a HUGE CHURCH-WIDE TAILGATING PARTY! The tailgating will occur in the huge parking lot behind Beamie’s At The River on Reynolds St. (near the front of amphitheater) Keep an eye out for our TNC parking team!!! Please bring your own food, goodies and drinks. If you don’t want to bring food, Gibby’s BBQ will be there, selling BBQ with proceeds benefitting TNC. I will have some extra GOODIES at my spot, but I can’t promise how long it will last! In the tailgating area, we will provide recreation area for volleyball, wiffle ball, football, frisbee, etc. At 7:15 pm, our band will start rocking and roaring in the amphitheater as we prepare to praise our Great God and celebrate with a DUNK’D service! Over 40 people plan to be baptized in the service!!!! We will conclude by 8:30 pm to get prepared for Sunday! PLEASE NOTE: In case of rain on Saturday evening, we will still have the event at the same time at NAHS Auditorium. If you’re uncertain check out tncblog.com after 1:00 pm on Saturday…it will note the change in venue.
On Sunday, we will move to the NAHS CAMPUS to worship and celebrate COMMUNION together in all three of our services at 8:30, 10:00 and 11:30 am. Be sure to get here on time for the services (we expect the house to be full in every service) and bring a guest with you. We desire to see God UNIFY us for the coming vision that He has given TNC! I will also be sharing a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT early in the service that you don’t want to miss! It’s going to be a special morning and springboard for our upcoming WE UNITE: 40 Days of Community Journey that begins September 13!
TNC, God has done INCREDIBLE THINGS in our midst the past 5 years! After this weekend, we will be just shy of 600 baptisms in our short history as a church!!! (WOW!) To God be the Glory for the many lives and families that He has changed. This weekend is designed to celebrate His greatness and goodness to us! SEE YOU THERE!!!
Happy Birthday TNC!
Steve
P.S….Don’t forget to check out the blog for Staff Thoughts on turning 5 years old!!
Who would have thought 5 years ago that Truenorth Church would be getting ready to purchase 16 acres of land off of Martintown Road in North Augusta, South Carolina? NOT me! I am blown away by all of this.
Who would have thought 5 years into this adventure that almost 600 people would be baptized? NOT me! I am blown away that God is using His church to reach so many.
As we reflect on the places we have been, Hammond Hill Elementary School or North Augusta High School, let us remember, this adventure has always been orchestrated by God and it will continue to be. I pray that our focus will always remain on Him and not man.
There are many personal feelings that I have about this “news.” I am so excited, at times I just can’t sit still. I feel like a little kid with all this emotion and not knowing how to release it all.
This is an amazing time, I know it to. There aren’t many times that you will be able to experience this in a lifetime. Actually, I believe the chances are very slim that you will experience it at all. I’m not taking even a moment for granted. I am so humbled that I have been able to be a part of this journey at Truenorth Church.
May God keep all of us humble, may we keep our GAZE on Jesus!
Journey Land….keep posted for updates for the next few months.
Nina Fiedler
JOURNEY LAND
We are so happy to be taking part in a church-wide series, WE UNITE. For the next 8 weeks, we will be on one page as a church. Each week will build on itself, and the theme throughout will be “LIFT UP, LOVE IN, LIVE OUT” (Sound familiar? We hope so!)
Each child will receive a devotional (coloring book) that will be sent home each week. The idea is to spend time with your child reading the daily scriptures. They will match the adult scripture each day.
Sunday mornings will focus on that days scripture along with the lesson. There will be crafts and activities to reinforce the main theme of the day.
We hope that you will join with your child and make the commitment to attend church for the next 8 weeks. Adults are also asked to join a Journey Team-Small Group for those weeks. For more information you may check out the tncblog or tncunites or contact Jay Knotts @ 803-279-1555.
Let’s join together and make a difference.
SEPTEMBER FOCUS
September 6 ~ Introduction
FOCUS: Lift Up, Love In, Live Out
September 13 ~ week 1
FOCUS: LOVE OUT – God wants us to love one another.
“LOVE ONE ANOTHER” JOHN 13:35
September 20 ~ Week 2
FOCUS: LIVE OUT – God wants us to be kind together.
“BE WISE WITH ONE ANOTHER” COLOSSIANS 4:5
September 27 ~ Week 3
FOCUS: to review the motions for “LIFT UP, LOVE IN, LIVE OUT”.
“DEPEND ON ONE ANOTHER.” ROMANS 12:5
Parent’s, our children are doing the same devotional as you. Please take time out each day so children can share with you the message for the day. This is a great opportunity to get our children more interersted in God’s word.
The coloring devotionals are so cute. The following will be what each child will learn this comming week in Journey Land. We have so much planned, it’s going to be an amazing time. You don’t want them to miss it.
September 20 ~ Week 2
“BE WISE WITH ONE ANOTHER” COLOSSIANS 4:5
Overview
First 5 minutes: Free play, hand out nametags, make new ones where needed.
Next 15 minutes: Small group curriculum
Next 15 minutes: Craft (EITHER hands OR feet)
Next 20 minutes: Large group production, Clubhouse
Next 10 minutes: Snacks and bathroom
Last 10 minutes: Distribute coloring devotionals, wrap up and prayer, memory verses, clean up.
Small Group Curriculum
FOCUS: LIVE OUT – God wants us to be kind together.
Take a few minutes to review motions of “LIFT UP, LOVE IN, LIVE OUT”
Last week we learned about “LOVE IN”…does anyone remember our Bible verse from last week? Pause for responses. It was “Love one another” John 13:35, and today we’re going to talk about “LIVE OUT”.
Our Bible verse for today is “Be wise with one another” Colossians 4:5. Let’s say that together several times…”Be wise with one another” Colossians 4:5.” Keep repeating until all children in your class can say it.
A longer version of this verse says, “Act in a wise way toward people who don’t know Jesus.” Did you know that there are some people who don’t go to church? There are some people who don’t know that Jesus loves them or even that there is a God. There are millions of people on the Earth, and so many of them are different from you and me. We can tell people about the Bible, and about the things we learn here in Journey Land, but one of the most important things we can do to teach people about Jesus is to act the way He would.
Where can we learn about the way Jesus would act toward others? Pause for responses. We can learn here at church, but we can also learn from the Bible. Matthew 25 tells us a story about Jesus talking to people. He says,
“I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me in. I needed clothes, and you gave them to me. I was sick, and you took care of me. I was in prison, and you came to visit me.’
“Then the people who have done what is right will answer him. ‘Lord,’ they will ask, ‘when did we see you hungry and feed you? When did we see you thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you as a stranger and invite you in? When did we see you needing clothes and give them to you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘What I’m about to tell you is true. Anything you did for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
This is how Jesus would love others, and how he wants us to love them, too. In a few weeks, we are going to have a great chance to show this love to people in our community. Here at TrueNorth Church, we like to LIVE OUT in North Augusta every 2nd Saturday. On October 10, we would love to see all of you and your family meet us to go help people in our community. I will send something home with you today to look at with your family. It will have all the information you need to know about 2nd Saturday.
Craft
In today’s craft, kids will choose EITHER a hand poem OR a foot poem. As they are coloring and putting them together, make sure to read the poem to them, and talk about how Jesus wants us to be His hands and feet to other people.
Today we are making either a hand or foot with a poem to remind us how to LIVE like Jesus.
Clubhouse
A host will be in Clubhouse today to talk about how we can be the hands and feet of Jesus to people we know.
Songs:
-Hands and Feet
-Lord’s Army
-Big House
-Wanna Be
Wrap Up
We have learned some really great things today! Let’s pray and ask God to help us do the things He wants us to do.
Dear God,
I pray that You will help me reach out to friends and neighbors around me and help them get to know You better. Help me to show others how much you really mean to me and invite them to come to church with me so they can learn about you too. Amen
Don’t forget to over the new week’s coloring devotional with your kids, and take time before parents come to see if anyone remembers this week’s memory verse. Give them a bead for their nametag if they can do it! (3′s-5′s only)
September 27 ~ Week 3
“DEPEND ON ONE ANOTHER.” ROMANS 12:5
Overview
First 5 minutes: Free play, hand out nametags, make new ones where needed.
Next 15 minutes: Small group curriculum
Next 30 minutes: Large group production, Clubhouse
Next 10 minutes: Snacks and bathroom
Last 10 minutes: Distribute coloring devotionals, wrap up and prayer, memory
verses, clean up.
Small Group Curriculum
Take a few minutes to review the motions for “LIFT UP, LOVE IN, LIVE OUT”.
Does anyone remember our memory verse from last week? Pause for responses. It was “Be wise with one another.” Colossians 4:5. This week our memory verse is “Depend on one another.” Romans 12:5. Let’s say that together and see if we can memorize it! “Depend on one another.” Romans 12:5. Repeat as necessary.
We have already learned about loving one another. We can get to know one another by spending more time with each, and we should be nice to everyone. But God make us to want more than that. He wants us to develop lasting friendships. It’s important to trust our friends, and for our friends to trust us. The Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes 4:
Two people are better than one. They can help each other in everything they do.
Suppose someone falls down. Then his friend can help him up.
But suppose the man who falls down doesn’t have anyone to help him up. Then feel sorry for him!
One person could be overpowered. But two people can defend themselves.
And a rope made out of three cords isn’t easily broken.
It’s important to have a group of friends that care about us and are there for us to help us when we need them. And we can help them, too! Do you have friends at church or school who care about you no matter what? Pause for responses.
It’s also important that we have friends who love God, too. We can help each to learn more about Him, and we can do fun things for Him together. Remember that on October 10, we have the chance to serve God with our friends by helping people in our community.
Clubhouse
Today a host will be in Clubhouse today acting out friendship scenarios with the kids.
Songs:
-Hands and Feet
-Lord’s Army
-Get Down
Wrap Up
Today we have been talking about making good friends, and being a good friend. Let’s pray to God for His help:
Dear God,
Help me to find friends that I can trust and friends that will help me grow closer to you. Help me to be a good friend to others and to build lasting friendships. Amen.
How many of you have been coloring in your devotional book every day? Here is this week’s devotional. Don’t forget to talk about all that you are learning with your family!
See what kids can repeat the memory verse and add a bead to their nametag.
KidzPartners’ was originally set up as a shadowing ministry for all of our Children’s area’s. As we have learned over a period of time there are children who just need a special touch. This can stem from many different reason’s, physical challenges, mental challenges or some other type of challenge that will keep them from participating in a typical environment.
Our goal is to partner each child with a kidzpartner volunteer who would be with them through-out the day while parents/guardians attend service. Their primary function would be to build a relationship with the children and their families. Getting to know the family will allow for a better transition into our environments.
It has been a passion of mine to open up our ministry area’s to families with children who have difficulty in a traditional setting. It is so important for parents/guardians of our children to be able to attend a church service and worship our Lord Jesus Christ while their children are in a loving and safe environment.
Although we have not officially put “KidzPartner’s” into practice, we feel the need is there. At this time we are taking each individual case one at a time; looking at the needs of the child and working with the parent to make accommodations.
If you have a child that you feel may need some special attention while you attend service, please contact our Journey Land Director so she can go over the details before you arrive in Journey land. This will make your experience and your child’s a little more enjoyable. It is our goal to make everyone feel right at home.
You may contact the following:
Nina Fiedler – North Augusta Campus
VOLUNTEER’S – If you find that this is an area you are gifted and passionate about, please contact the above so we can get you started as a Kizpartner. Our ministry area is growing and we would love to get you connect as soon as possible.
For a personal story from our director of Journey Land go to her blog.
Good Afternoon Truenorth-Journey Land….
What an amazing series we are involved in, “WE UNITE.” Not sure about you but God has been rocking my world through this series. I love the devotionals, the messages and the small group time we are all sharing. God is AWESOME!
This past week the kids had so much fun in Journey Land. I believe they are enjoying their devotionals as well as taking home their magnets to remember their bible verse for the week. I was listening to our Kindergarteners say their verses and being encouraged to say all our weeks past. They are little sponges…they are doing awesome!!!
This week we will focusing on the following…come join us and see what God can do in and through you.
October 11~ week 5
“Help one another” Galatians 6:2
Overview
First 10 minutes: Free Play, create a nametag for each child that comes in (see
craft table.)
Next 15 minutes: Small Group curriculum
Next 20 minutes: Clubhouse
Next 10 minutes: Snack, bathroom
Last 10 minutes: Hand out magnet, coloring book devotional, wrap up, prayer,
clean up.
Small Group Curriculum
FOCUS: Live Out
Review “LIFT UP, LOVE IN, LIVE OUT” with your kids. Make sure any new kids have it down.
Last week we talked about LIFT UP and LOVE IN. Today we’ll talk about LIVE OUT. Remember that when we LIVE OUT we help others. What are ways we can help other people? Pause for responses. Those are great ways to help others!
God can use grown-ups, like our parents or teachers to help people, but he can use kids, too! In our Bible story today, Jesus and little boy helped thousands of people!
Jesus was about to teach a large crowd of people…there were about 5,000 men and that doesn’t count women and children! Jesus asked his friend Philip, “Where will we buy bread for these people to eat?” Jesus was testing Philip because He knew what He was going to do. Philip was doubtful. He didn’t think there was any chance of feeding all of the people. Another of Jesus’ friends, Andrew, saw a boy with five small loaves of bread and two fish. He asked Jesus, “But how far will this go?” Andrew was doubtful too. Jesus then asked his disciples to have all the men sit on the grass. The boy gave Jesus his food and Jesus blessed it (which means he prayed for it). They gave thanks and passed the bread and fish to all the men in the crowd. It fed EVERYONE! After they were finished, the disciples gathered the leftovers. Jesus said, “Don’t let anything be wasted.” They filled twelve more baskets with what was left over.
The little boy had no idea what was about to happen. Can you imagine having someone take your small lunch and trying to feed 5,000 hungry men? With the faith of the boy and help of the disciples, Jesus performed a miracle and fed all the people! The boy and the disciples served God by helping to feed the people.
Clubhouse
Songs:
-Wanna Be
-Lord’s Army
-I’m Gonna Walk
-Hands and Feet
Wrap Up
Serving God is a way of showing our obedience to Him. He wants us to care and share with other people. There are so many things we can do for others even though we are kids. We need to find things that we are good at and use those things to serve God. Let’s pray to God for His help
Dear God,
Help me to find things that I am good at and use those things to help others. Show me ways I can help people and share your love. Help me to obey you in all I do. Amen
Don’t forget to hand out coloring devotionals, magnets, and see who knows their memory verse from this week!
Loose Change
This week, October 18th will be spent teaching our kids how to “worship God together.” (Worship God with one another” Leviticus 23:3) We will teach all the ways to worship God, including tithing and offerings. We are presenting a hands on event for your child to participate in worship this way.
On Sunday October 4 we presented “Loose Change” in the two-five year old classrooms. We taught this concept and asked kids to bring any “loose change” they may have to offer to God for our newly acquired land! Information was sent home with your child on the 4th, and we will continue to collect “Loose Change” on October 18th and 25th, with a review of all forms of worship on the 18th.
October 25th will be our celebration time. We will gather together and celebrate what we have learned these past 40 days. We will celebrate what God has given us!
We love your children, and it’s been so fun teaching them how to unite with God and one another! It is such a blessing to help guide your children’s first footsteps on the journey to loving God!
Thank you,
Journey Land Team
Loose Change/How much is it?
loose change
How Much?
Way to go JOURNEY LAND!
THE TOTAL COLLECTED – $85.75
What an awesome day in Journey Land. We celebrated all that God has done during our “WE UNITE” series. Our children have learned to “Lift Up, Love in and Live out.”
We love your kids, thank you for letting us share in your lives just a little bit.
The Hayes Jteam came to Journey Land to bless our tear down crew. They came in and took charge, tearing everything down and getting it on the truck. Our regular crew didn’t know what to do with themselves. It was wonderful to watch our crew receive this blessing, thank you Jteam…
I took advantage of this amazing blessing and invited our set up crew to come in and hang out with us. We all gathered together in fellowship sharing pizza and drinks with each other.
I am so grateful for our wonderful servants of Jesus. There is absolutely no way to express my gratitude to each of you. You are a blessing to me and I thank you all for your amazing hearts. Thank you!
Journey Land/November
It’s hard to believe but November is just around the corner. Only a few days away. This coming week we will start our new series in Journey Land, Thanksgiving.
In big church adults will learn “how to wreck their marriages.” Interesting right? You won’t want to miss any of what’s going on at Truenorth church. Bring a friend, bring your family….bring the kids. Doesn’t matter if your married or not, we all have relationships and this series will relate to all of us.
To follow is a break down of what our kids will learn this week in J-Land. Have a great one….we look forward to loving on some kids this week.
November 1
give thanks to god
Overview
First 5 minutes: Free Play
Next 30 minutes: Small Group curriculum and Craft
Next 10 minutes: Snack, bathroom
Next 15 minutes: Clubhouse
Last 10 minutes: Wrap up, Prayer, Clean up.
Small Group Curriculum
When are times that we give thanks to God? Pause for responses. We can thank God for our food, family and friends. We can also thank Him for presents and blessings. But the Bible tells us to “Give thanks no matter what happens. God wants you to thank him because you believe in Christ Jesus.” It also says, “Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, because He is good. His faithful love continues forever.” Isn’t it good to know that God loves us ALL the time, NO MATTER WHAT? He even loves us when we do the wrong things. He loves us just the same when we are good or bad or happy or sad, and He loves each of us just the same. In fact, He loves us so much that He sent His son, Jesus, to die for each of us and take our punishment for the wrong things we do. He did that because He wants us to live with Him in Heaven one day. Isn’t that a great reason to give thanks to God?
The Bible tells us other reasons to thank God:
- For strength: “I am thankful to Christ Jesus our Lord. He has given me strength. I thank him that he considered me faithful. And I thank him for appointing me to serve him.” 1 Timothy 1:12
- For food: “Then Jesus took the loaves and gave thanks. He handed out the bread to those who were seated. He gave them as much as they wanted. And he did the same with the fish.” John 6:11
- For wisdom: “God of my people, I thank and praise you. You have given me wisdom and power. You have made known to me what we asked you for. You have shown us the king’s dream.” Daniel 2:23
- For all people: “First, I want all of you to pray for everyone. Ask God to bless them. Give thanks for them.” 1 Timothy 2:1
- For all things: “Always give thanks to God the Father for everything. Give thanks to him in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 5:20
We’re going to make a craft now and write down things we can thank God for. Assemble craft, found on craft table, and in each square have each kid write something they thank God for.
Wrap Up
This week, remember to thank God for things when they are good or bad, and when you are happy or sad. Always remember that God made you, God loves you, and Jesus wants to be your friend forever…NO MATTER WHAT!
Prayer
Dear God,
I thank you for loving us, and for wanting what is best for us. I pray that You would remind us to always give you thanks for everything. We know it is not always easy when we are sad to thank You, so help us to learn that no matter what, You work all things to our good. Thank You.
Amen
Check this out! Have you ever wondered how we keep track of all our children in Journey land? Well here it is, just an example of all the hard work and dedication our volunteer’s and staff give each Sunday morning to our precious little ones.
| 1st service | 2nd service | 3rd service | ||||||||
| kids | vips | kids | vips | kids | vips | repeaters | ||||
| 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| 8 | 4 | 7 | 4 | |||||||
| 9 | 2 | 11 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| 9 | 3 | 11 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 1 | ||||
| 12 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | ||||||
| 5 | 1 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |||||
| 3 | 1 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 2 | ||||
| 4 | 7 | 5 | ||||||||
| 21 | 11 | 65 | 24 | 39 | 18 | 8 | ||||
| 1st: | 32 | 2nd: | 89 | 3rd: | 57 | total= | 178 | |||
| 1st: | 32 | 2nd: | 89 | 3rd: | 57 | |||
| total= | 178 |
WOW! there is so much going on at Truenorthchurch. We are currently in our “Marriage” series, it’s blowing people away. People are coming, they are getting it and they are sharing it with others. Praise God!
Journey Land is Rock-N-Rolling! We start our Christmas series November 22nd, “Get Ready for Christmas.” The kids are gonna love it. More will be available to review at a later post.
We also have our 2nd Saturday project “Ridgekids” this Saturday, November 14th from 8:30-12 noon. We meet at the Church office, share some coffee and donuts and head to our destinations. Come hang out with us, you’ll love it.
If you haven’t heard, Journey Land is collecting baby supplies for “Ridgeview.” Diaper’s, wipes, baby food, can or jars or formula. Drop it off at Journey Land and we will deliver to Ridgeview in the near future.
Thanksgiving, are you purchasing a Turkey or Boston butt? If so you need to have your order forms and money turned in no later than November 22nd. These Turkeys are the best! Buy one and donate another for a family in need. If you need more information contact the church office at 803-279-1555.
We have so much more going on, check out the TNC Blog, it will keep you up to date over the holidays. You can also sign up for our newsletter. You can call the office or check out our web page, Truenorth church.
I am so pumped…the holidays are here. Most people are freaking out because they haven’t start shopping. Me, well, I haven’t started shopping either, but that’s not what the holidays are about anyway.
I’m looking forward to having my family together for the very first time this Thanksgiving and Christmas. We have a wedding in the works and a daughter in law being added to the family. What a blessing, and I will get to hang out with my 2-year-old grandson, Joey. Now that is exciting!
Keep posted over the next few weeks for all the upcoming events at Truenorth church-Journey Land. It’s gonna be amazing…
Nina
A look at the future….
This week in Journey Land…Celebrating Friends and Family,
November 15
thanks for family and friends
- “I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you.”
- “Brothers and sisters, we should always thank God for you.”
- “I always thank God for you. I thank him because of the grace he has given to you who belong to Christ Jesus.”
- “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy.”
- “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.”
Do you thank God for your friends and family?
November 22
AN ANGEL COMES FOR A VISIT – HOPE
Nothing is impossible with God. Luke 1:37 NIV
God specializes in making the impossible possible! God is bigger than any problems we might have. Remember, God is always able to perform a miracle…he gives us HOPE!
November 29
HIS NAME IS JOHN! – PREPARE
Be ready to tell about Jesus. 1 Peter 3:15B (paraphrase)
This week I will ask at least one friend who doesn’t go to church to come with me to church the following week.
DECEMBER 6
JESUS IS BORN! – GIVE
God loved us and gave His Son. John 3:16 (paraphrase)
Jesus was born to be Savior of the world! He was born in a stable because there was no room for Him anywhere else in a whole city. Aren’t you glad God loves us so much He gave us the gift of His son?
DECEMBER 13
JESUS HAS VISITORS – SEEK
Seek the Lord. Isaiah 55:6 NLT
The wise men had to look for Jesus for a few years and follow the star in the sky to find Him, but they didn’t give up. It takes effort to seek for something, doesn’t it? God wants us to seek Him every day by reading the Bible and praying.
DECEMBER 20
JESUS GROWS UP – GROW
Jesus grew wise and strong. Luke 2:52 (paraphrase)
Jesus grew in four ways: he grew in wisdom, stature (or height), and favor with God and with men. We should grow in these ways too. We also learned that Jesus had problems in His life, but He used those problems to help Him grow.
December 24th
Christmas Eve
3 services…4pm, 5;30pm and 7pm
JOURNEY LAND WILL BE OFFERED IN THE 4 & 5:30 SERVICES ONLY!
Ridgeview Supplies!
If you haven’t heard, Journey Land is collecting baby supplies for “Ridgeview.” Diaper’s, wipes, baby food, can, jars or formula. Drop it off at Journey Land and we will deliver to Ridgeview in the near future.
Ridgeview is our “Adopt A Block” project at truenorth church. We reach out to our community through building relationships and providing some very necessary- every day supplies.
For more information please contact Nina Fiedler at 803-279-1555 or ninaf@truenorthchurch.com
Just a Reminder….
This Wednesday, November 25th we will distribute our Truenorthchurch turkeys at the North Augusta High school between 11am & 1pm. For those who have pre-ordered, well come and get-em! (all proceeds go to the land fund.)
If you either forgot or just didn’t have time to pre-order, I am told we will have Turkey’s for sale. Just come on by the High School and pick one up. You can even get one for a family member. Better yet, bring them with you so they can get their own. The Turkeys are between 12-14 lbs. and cost $25.00. They are AWESOME! So why cook if you don’t have to.
No calls to the church office please…. first come, first get-em! I will see you guys their..it’s gonna be lot’s of fun!
Nina
What’s happening at Truenorth church this Christmas Season….keep connected by continuing to visit our websites….
Christmas is 30 days away!! There will be a few changes in services for the holidays. There will be 3 Christmas Eve services – 4:00 PM, 5:30 PM and 7:00 PM. Kidz Stuff (grades 1-5) will not be available and Journey Land (ages 6 weeks to kindergarten) will be available at the 4:00 and 5:30 services only. There will only be 2 services on Sunday December 27 – 10:00 AM and 11:30 AM. Kidz Stuff (grades 1-5) will not be available.
Angel Tree is back! You can make the difference in the lives of local children. Just adopt a name from the Angel Tree tent outside the auditorium on Sunday morning. Gifts must be returned to the tent by Sunday, December 13, so they can be delivered in time for Christmas.
Missions The last Guatemala missions team of 2009 leaves Saturday, December 5. Please keep them in your prayers as they travel to San Cristobal, Guatemala. You can also help out TNC missions by buying Guatemalan coffee from San Cristobal at Guest Services on Sunday. Bags of coffee are $10 and make great Christmas gifts. All proceeds go to TrueNorth Missions.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!
TrueNorth Church
We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and “Dunk’d” services last weekend! We baptized 27 people and God’s presence was apparent in the worship, cheers and tears. Before I look forward to another exciting WEEKEND, I want to give a BIG SHOUT OUT to each of you that participated in BUYING and BLESSING others with turkeys for THANKSGIVING. The final numbers are in and we were able to BLESS over 150 families with turkey and we raised over $10,000 for our TNC LAND!!!! Incredible Job TNCers and thanks a lot “BIG DADDY” for all your hard work!
Our “DUNK’D” services jumpstarted the Holiday season as we now look forward to the CHRISTMAS SEASON! This Sunday we begin a powerful series entitled, DELIVERED. We invite you to wrap your hearts around the precious and practical truths found in the Christmas story as recorded by Matthew. I can’t tell you how excited that I am to share these messages with YOU and THOSE YOU INVITE to join us! This three week series will lead us to conclude the Christmas season at our special TNC CHRISTMAS EVE service, “THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS!” We will have 3 service times at 4:00, 5:30 and 7:00 pm. The last service childcare will not be available. INVITE cards can be picked up at Guest Services for you to invite family, friends and co-workers as culminate our CELEBRATION of the NEW-BORN KING!
Sunday, I will also be making another SPECIAL and EXCITING ANNOUNCMENT concerning God’s leading of TrueNorth Church! You don’t want to miss the good news as our Father continues to open doors of opportunity for the ministry of TNC to grow and expand!!!
Finally, please be in prayer for another TNC mission team that leaves in the morning to minister and serve in Guatemala next week. We have another strong team that is excited about taking the love of Jesus to those who haven’t heard! Please keep them in your prayers all week!
Can’t wait to see you Sunday as we begin a season of Celebrating that Christ has come!
I Love You,
Steve Davis
Laad Pastor
TRUENORTH CHURCH CHRISTMAS BASH
LOT’S OF FUN!Hey TNC’ers! There is a whole lot coming up for the Christmas holidays….
Christmas Eve Services
There will be 3 Christmas Eve services: 4:00 PM, 5:30 PM and 7:00 PM. Kidz Stuff (grades 1-5) will not be available and Journey Land (ages 6 weeks to kindergarten) will be available at the 4:00 and 5:30 services only.
Sunday, Decmember 27th There will only be 2 services on Sunday, December 27: 10:00 AM and 11:30 AM. Kidz Stuff (grades 1-5) will not be available.
Link’d Up We are extremely excited to be re-launching this ministry during the Christmas season as we have multiple under-resourced families, both internal and external, that are in need of assistance this year. If you or your J-Team are interested in adopting one of these families, please email your information to linkdup@truenorthchurch.com or visit the new Link’d Up Facebook page.
Element Student Ministries Element will take a break for the holidays. Middle School Element will return Sunday, January 10th and High School Element will return Wednesday, January 6th.
Crown Financial Classes What does God say about being wealthy? What do the scriptures say about debt? How do you run a Godly business? Crown Financial Study is a 10 week in-depth experience of what Scripture teaches about money and possessions. 2 classes begin in January and the cost is $55 per person or $60 per couple. Classes are limited and sign-ups are available at Guest Services on Sunday. For more information, email crown@truenorthchurch.com.
Guatemalan Coffee Looking for Christmas presents and a way to support TrueNorth Missions? Bags of Guatemalan coffee are available at Guest Services. The bags are $10 and all proceeds go to TNC Missions.
Class 101 If you want to know more about the what and why of TrueNorth or want to become a member, this class is for you! The next class will be at the Depot on Saturday, January 9, from 9:00 AM to Noon. Breakfast is provided, but childcare is not. Please sign up at Guest Services on Sunday.
Feliz Navidad!
TrueNorth Church
Well! It’s here, Christmas is only a few days away! Is your shopping done? Nope, not mine.
As a reminder, we want to let you know about our services for Christmas Eve, December 24th and our December 27th times. It is a little different then what we are use to.
Christmas Eve: December 24th, 2009
Journey Land will be provided for our 4pm and 5:30pm services ONLY! Please make note that we will not have child care at our 7pm service. Let your friends and family know PLEASE!
Journey Land is for children 6 weeks old through kindergarten age.
There will not be Kidzstuff! Ages 1st grade through 5th, they will attend service with you.
Invite your friends to come with you. Our Christmas Eve service is gonna be out of the box, make sure you tell everyone about it. We will also have a special guest, Kathryn McCormick from “So you think you can dance.”
December 27th, 2009:
Our service times are 10am and 11:30am. We will have Journey Land ( 6 weeks thru kindergarten) there is no Kidzstuff (1st thru 5th) Again, they will attend service with you. Notice that we do not have our 8:30am service.
Starting January 3rd, 2010 we will be back to our regular schedule. There has been a lot of planning going on for the coming year.
See ya Christmas Eve…
CHRISTMAS EVE AT TNC!
Final preparations are being made for our Christmas Eve Celebration built around the theme, “The Night Before Christmas.” It’s going to be an uplifting night of fun, celebration and worship! We are delighted to announce that TNC’er, Kathryn McCormick (3rd place finisher on Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance”), will be dancing in each service. We hope you are planning to INVITE friends and family members who are de-churched or un-churched. I promise there will be a clear presentation of the love and hope found in Jesus. The service times are 4:00, 5:30 and 7:00 pm in the NAHS auditorium. PLEASE NOTE: We will not have childcare in our 7:00 pm service. We expect big crowds in each service, so get there early!
We will also be receiving OUR CHRISTMAS EVE OFFERING for the RENOVATION of the 12,800 square ft. building (Old Fox Creek HS) on Martintown Rd. near exit 1. We have already started demolition on the facility and look forward to a grand opening for our Student Ministry in February. If we believe this GENERATION must be reached for Christ, we must INVEST in it. We want to renovate this building in a way that reaches teens today! We believe we need at least $30,000 to do it well and that’s what we are praying for. We will only be asking those who are in the TNC family to participate in the offering. I want to encourage you to bring a Christmas gift to Jesus to help us advance His Kingdom through the ministry of this new facility. I pray that your gift will be generous as we continue to follow God’s lead at TNC!
Please continue to remember Jay and Laura Knotts in the loss of their infant-girl, Campbell, last week. During the holidays, they will be going out of town. Please continue to pray for them, as well as their daughter, Carrington. Please send all cards, letters or if you desire to bless them (some have asked), a gift (restaurant) card, to 131 Summerlake Drive, North Augusta, SC 29860.
Don’t forget Sunday services on Dec. 27, will be held at 10:00 and 11:30 am. We will not have an 8:30 am service on Sunday. JourneyLand (babies-preschoolers) will be provided, however Kidz Stuff (K-5th grade) will join us in the auditorium for worship.
On behalf of the TNC Staff, I want to thank you for the many cards, gifts and goodies that we have received during the past couple weeks. It’s a joy to serve you TNC! We love you and pray that Emmanuel will fill you with peace, hope and love this Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
Steve
HOPE EVERYONE HAD A WONDEFUL CHRISTMAS! LOOKING FORWARD TO A HAPPY NEW YEAR!
CHECK OUT OUR TRUENORTH CHURCH BLOG AT www.tncblog.com
nina
Well, it’s vacation time for many of us. So what does that mean? I’m not blogging as much on the Journey Land site. Sorry! All of us at some point need to take a breather. I pray that you and your family are able to take some time to think of the past year and set some goals for the new.
We will be back on schedule the first week in January. Keep posted for some calendar dates for 2010. Believe it or not we have started planning for Easter. WOW!
Happy New Year to you and your family from Truenorth Church Journey Land.
Nina Fiedler
Journey Land Director
Journey Land Series Starting January 3rd, 2010.
Wake Up is a five-week series that centers around five impactful stories that required someone to wake up. Themed in a Wake Board extreme water sport atmosphere. Each student will be introduced to life changing principles that will make their faith Wake Up and come alive.
Sunday, January 3rd we will focus on the following in Journey land with your children. Come and have some fun as we Wake UP to Jesus!
Wake Up!
Lesson 1
“Wake Up Jesus”
The Point of the Lesson:
This week each child will hear about the time Jesus took a nap during a storm. They will
learn that God wants us to have faith, even when times are rough. He wants our faith to
grow by trusting in Him.
The Power of God’s Word:
In rough times your faith can grow. James 1:3 NLT Paraphrase
The Prayer of Each Child:
Dear Jesus, I love You. I want my faith in You to grow. Please help me when times are
tough to have faith and trust You. Thank You for loving me. Amen.
The Lesson in a Word:
Faith
A look back on 2009.
It’s hard to look all the way back to January of 2009. We get so caught up in the “NOW” that we have blinders on to all the blessings of the past. It would be a crime if we didn’t take a few minutes and look at all the things God has done this past year. (in no particular order)
Some may wonder, “how many children come through the doors in Journey Land?” Well, I have the answer. Take a look at these numbers.
First time visitors………..242 (up from 2008 by 40)
Total Children…………….6,007 (605 stayed for more than one service)
Total Volunteers…………3,131 (most VIPS are staying for 2 or 3 services) Praise God for our volunteers.
These are just a few of the things that took place in Journey Land and TNC in 2009. WOW! What’s next for 2010?
Thank you for trusting us with your children. Thank you volunteers for giving of yourselves. Thank you staff for standing side by side with me as we do this thing called life. I love you all.
Nina Fiedler
Lesson 3
A angel helps Peter
escape from prison
Acts 12:1-11
Our story today takes place when
King Herod was in charge. King Herod
was not a very nice man, in fact he was
mean to people who loved Jesus.
We are supposed to be nice to people,
but King Herod didn’t listen to God.
King Herod decided he was
going to arrest Peter for telling
people how much Jesus loved
them. He had his guards put
Peter in jail. King Herod did not
want Peter to escape from jail.
While Peter was in jail, he prayed
for God to rescue him. Peter
wasn’t the only one praying, other
people who loved Jesus were
also praying for God to rescue
him!
Something amazing happened the night
before Peter was to go to trial. As he lay
asleep with heavy chains on him with a
guard on each side, all of a sudden the
cell was filled with a bright light! God
had sent an angel to rescue Peter!
The angel from the Lord woke him
up and said, “Peter, wake up, get
dressed and follow me.” Peter did
exactly what the angel of the Lord
told him to do.
Peter put his coat on and followed
the angel right out of the jail cell,
down the hall, and through the
gate and out of the city.
When they were no longer in the
city, the angel disappeared and
Peter knew it wasn’t a dream.
He was free! God had rescued him
from jail and from King Herod!
Peter was in a really tough spot.
He decided to pray to God for help.
Peter knew that God would listen to his
prayer and that God wants to help us
in times of trouble. God wants us to pray too.
He listens to our prayers, and He wants to
help us with all our needs.
(Story from Acts 12:1-11 CEV)
We were extremely excited to be able to officially unveil the dates of our 2010 mission opportunities at TrueNorth Church. We are confident the 11 trips that have been scheduled will provide a place for everyone to make an impact by either going, praying or sending. Please direct your questions to Mike Fiedler at mikef@truenorthchurch.com
Charleston
April 3 – 10
June 4 – 11
August 6 – 13
Guatemala
April 4 – 11
May 22 – 29
June 19 – 26
Sept 4 – 11
Oct -Nov 30 – 6
Dec 4 – 11
SE Asia
May 8 – 19
July 17 – 28
Wow! there are so many plans being made at this time for the rest of 2010. I can’t believe it but we actually have our calendar scheduled all the way through August of this year.
For most this wouldn’t mean much, but for us – leaders & volunteer’s, it is priceless. It gives us the opportunity to give our best to the children. They deserve the Best!
The Month of February:
FEBRUARY 7 – A TRUSTING HEART
FEBRUARY 14 – A RESPECTFUL HEART
FEBRUARY 21 – AN APPRECIATING HEART
FEBRUARY 28 – A SERVING HEART
We will also start our Easter Out- Reach project the week of February 28th, 2010. Keep your eyes open for more information in the near future.
Our Easter Series, Get Ready for Easter, starts March 7th and continues through Easter Sunday, April 4th, 2010.
Lesson 1: Obey -They will hear how Adam and Eve did not obey, when they chose to do things their own way.Lesson 2: Trust – They will hear how ravens brought Elijah some bread, so he could trust in all God said.
Lesson 3: Rely – They will hear when Elijah was tired and beat, an angel brought him some food to eat.
Lesson 4: Share – They will hear how some people are hungry when food isn’t there, but they can help whenever they share.
Lesson 5: Listen – They will hear how Jesus’ friends got lots of fish, when they listened to Jesus they got their wish.
Lesson 6: Recognize – Two and Three year olds will hear when Jesus cooked breakfast for His friends on the beach, they were happy to see and hear Him teach.
Lesson 7: Remember – They will hear what Jesus did at the last dinner, it was a special time to hear and remember.
Lesson 8: Feed – They will hear how they can be salt to others, when they love and help others through out their town.
This brings us to Summer. At a later date I will share with you the opportunities available to make this Summer an amazing part of our childrens lives. WOW! Can you say FUN!
WOW! What a day in Journey Land. If you haven’t noticed, our “CLUB HOUSE” is rocking it out. It has a new look for the children and we have introduce our new friends, Zoey & Tucker.
The lights are in, the sound’s on it’s way and we are learning about Jesus in a fun and creative way. I hope your children are sharing what they learn each Sunday morning.
A great big Thank you and welcome to Lee Masters, our Production Coordinator. He is doing an amazing job teaching our children. His love and creativity is bringing our Club house to the next level in sharing Jesus. We are so excited.
This Sunday, January 31st we will learn about “Eutychus.” Wake Up, Eutychus (Story from Acts 20:7-12 NLT)
Our story begins on the first day of the week. Paul met with some friends who believed in Jesus and shared a special meal to remember how Jesus had died and come back to life. It was a special time because Paul was going to leave the next day to go to another town. Many people came to hear Paul
talk about Jesus.
One young man that was there was named Eutychus. Eutychus listened to
Paul and learned lots of things about Jesus. He sat in the window of the room listening to Paul talk…and talk…and talk…and talk.
Paul talked about Jesus until past midnight. It got very dark outside and
Eutychus started to get very sleepy.
All of a sudden, as Paul was talking about Jesus, everyone heard a loud crash! Eutychus fell out of the window onto the ground below!
When they looked at him, they just knew that he was not alive. Paul hurried down the stairs as fast as he could. He told all the people that they didn’t need to worry. He told all the people that Eutychus was alive!
All the people were happy, and they all went back upstairs to listen to Paul talk about Jesus. Paul helped them to believe in Jesus and to be alive to God. (Story from Acts 20:7-12 NLT)
LIVE IT!
Things To Do At Home
Activity 1: Tell your children you are going to wake them up each morning by hugging them and saying; “Good morning! You are alive to God.” Explain to your children that this is a reminder of our Bible story this week about Eutychus. Paul hugged him and told all the people that Eutychus was ALIVE!
Hear This!
Believe in Jesus and be alive to God.
Romans 6:11b NIV Paraphrase
Lesson In A Word
Alive
Activity 2: One night during the week, let your child pretend to be Paul and teach you about Jesus.
Activity 3: Draw a picture about the story you learned this week.
A day in Journey Land….Loving, Learning, and having Fun!
Be on the lookout for pirates, treasure maps and a tropical invasion for the month of February as we will be going on a treasure hunt in Journey Land! Not one for jewels or gold, not one for long lost riches, but one for our hearts. Our kids will learn that “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” Luke 12:34.
Over the next four weeks we will explore what it means to have a Trusting Heart (from a Roman army captain who had faith), a Respectful Heart (to treat others the way God treats us), a Thankful Heart (from a leper that was healed), and a Serving Heart (from the little boy who shared his five small loaves and two fish to feed a crowd of 5000).
Follow us on Twitter @JourneyLand to see how the hunt is going!
Have you checked out Clubhouse lately? Peek your head in as you check in your children to see how we are creating a place to bring our Bible stories to life in a real way for our kids. Our greatest desire is for them to learn and apply what we are teaching them in Journey Land. Please take time each week to work through the activity booklet we send home with your children (ages 2-5K) and reinforce what they have learned the previous Sunday…you will be amazed at what they remember!
I cannot tell you how excited I am to partner with you in your child’s first steps on the journey to loving God. It is a privilege to watch them grow and learn and become the people God has created them to be.
Daphne Brown
Journey Land-Assistant Director
What an amazing Sunday. Things were really rocking in Journey Land. I am so excited..we received our new sound equipment for our production area, Clubhouse. What an amazing difference, if you haven’t stopped by Journey Land lately, well, you are missing out. Come check us out! Our kids are learning so much about Jesus and having so much fun doing it.
A great big Thank you to our volunteers. With out you we could not have loved on over 144 children this past week. We think it’s a record but we need to check it out. We changed lot’s of diapers and took a lot of little ones to the potty….but what fun we had…WOW!
Here are just a few pictures…God is amazing, I love my job!
So much took place this past week. I can’t wait for this Sunday. We are going to continue on our Quest with the children. Take a look at what your children do each Sunday morning. Check out those volunteer’s loving on your children. We are so blessed!
Lee Masters-Clubhouse
Puppet Time
Snack Time-Prayer!
Toddler Volunteers-Michelle & Merrideth
So What are we learning? Proverbs 3:5
WHEN:
May 16th, 2010 (Registration to open soon)
WHERE:
“the BLOK”….(student building/church offices)
1297 W. Martintown Road North Augusta, Sc. 29860
(old Fox Creek High School)
WHO:
Parents who want to publicly declare their intentions to raise child/children with the opportunity to know God and establish a personal relationship with Christ.
WHAT:
Baby dedication will be a special event, you’ll want to invite your friends and family and bring your camera.
Attire? Whatever works for you and your child. Many people dress their children in special clothing, others simply bring their child in a favorite outfit.
HOW:
More information will be available soon.
We look forward to joining with you in “Guiding your child’s first step on the journey to loving God.”
Questions: contact Nina Fiedler at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com or 803-279-1555
It’s time again…we are so excited! The dates have been set for this years EGGSTRAVAGANZA..it will be a hip-hop of a time.
Mark you calendars for March 27th from 11am-2pm. We will hang out with our Ridgeview families and friends for a time of celebration. There will be blow ups, food, prizes and of course, the Easter Egg Hunt. ( rain date will be March 28th @3pm-6pm.)
If you are interested in helping organize this special event please contact me, Nina Fiedler at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com. Or you can reach me at the church offices at 803-279-1555. There are many opportunities for each of you.
In the mean time, keep your eyes and ears open for all the things planned in Journey land. It is going to be an amazing time. We love your children and our community. Let’s bring it all out for them this Easter season. Jesus is in the air…
I wanted to take a few minutes and talk about our volunteers in Journey Land. Since July, I have been learning to schedule almost 90 volunteers who take care of our kids in Journey Land. I have to say it’s not always an easy job, but I love getting to know all of the caring people. We have some volunteers who are there every Sunday, some who come every other Sunday, and some who come once a month. All of these dedicated people come on Sunday to teach the kids that God made them, God loves them, and Jesus wants to be their friend. I have two children in Journey Land and I can say that it shows.
I have had the privilege of serving with some of these people for a few years. Some of the people volunteering have been with Journey Land for a long time, and some of them since I have been doing the scheduling, all of them being so important to what we do. All you need to have, to volunteer in JourneyLand is a love for children and a caring heart. If you have that, it is the best job in the world.
We also have a few teenagers volunteering in JourneyLand. I think that it is really cool that they are serving with us. They are so good with the kids and the kids look up to them.
What a great God we have. Every Sunday he blesses us with people who care about our future generation of Christ followers. I am glad to be a part of the bigger picture that only God can see.
God Bless!
Holly Roberts-Lead Coordinator
Truenorth Church-Journey Land
Last year was our first “Easter Outreach” project. It was a huge success, families and children learned a valuable lesson, “caring” for Gods people.
This year our focus will be centered on a community right here in North Augusta, Ridgeview Manor. Ridgeview is part of our Adopt-A-Block project which focuses on families and their needs. We have monthly visits scheduled (2nd Saturday) and events that take place through-out the month.
Our goal this year is to collect items for these families that would not be readily available through other sources – such as diapers, shampoo, toothpaste, razors, paper products, and other personal hygiene items to name a few.
Collection will start March 7th 2010 on our North Augusta Campus, items should be brought to the cafeteria of the High school, Journey Land. (New items only please.) You may also drop items off at our new offices located at 1297 W. Martin Town Road in North Augusta.
If you would like more information please contact me at 803-279-1555 or Ninaf@truenorthchurch.com
Thank you and I look forward to changing lives in North Augusta this Easter Season.
*for more information on 2nd Saturday or Adopt A Block please visit our web site at www.truenorthchurch.com or www.tncblog.com.*
Nina Fiedler
Journey Land – Director
WOW! we sure do have a lot going on this Easter season. So what does that mean? It means that you have lot’s of opportunities to get involved at Truenorth Church and make a difference in our community.
March 27th, 2010 is our Easter Eggstravaganza at Ridgeview Manor (Bradlyville Road). It starts at 11am and will finish up at 2pm. There will be lot’s to do at Ridgeview, bounce houses, games, food and of course our Egg Hunt.
Easter Sunday, April 4th will also be an amazing time at Truenorth Church. The Team in Journey Land is putting together last-minute things for our children. It’s going to be so much fun learning about Jesus. The children will also have their own Egg Hunt this day.
Our Outreach project is underway, we will start collecting items on March 7th, in Journey Land or Kidzstuff. You can also drop items off at our church offices. (see previous posts for more information)
If you would like to donate eggs and candy we would openly except them. This year we do not need the eggs stuffed with the candy. We are doing things just a little different. Children will gather their eggs at the hunt and turn them in to receive a bag with candy in it. This takes away from bigger children getting lots of eggs and little ones not getting any.
If you need any information on the event’s taking place at Truenorth Church, please contact Nina Fiedler at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com or call the church office at 803-279-1555.
Well peeps, it seems that our Truenorth family is at it again. Just yesterday we handed out our flier for our “Easter Outreach” event and you are already answering the call.
Today at the church office we have received donations for our families at Ridgeview Manor. We will collect items through-out the month of March on Sundays in Journey Land or Kidzstuff. During the week we will also collect at the church office off of Martintown Road.
Here are just a few items you can donate: (Children items)
We are also receiving candy and plastic Easter eggs for our Egg Hunt on March 27th @11am. Come join us for a really fun time.
Get Ready for Easter!
It’s hard to believe that it’s already March! While life is zooming by, we’re Getting Ready for Easter in Journey Land. This five-week series will cover the week leading up to Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Week One we will talk about Palm Sunday and how the people WORSHIPED Jesus as he entered Jerusalem. The key verse is “Praise Jesus“, a paraphrase of John 12:13.
Week Two is when we learn about how Jesus ACCEPTED his task while praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. Our key verse is “I want Your ways, God.” Matthew 26:39 paraphrase. We will talk about how God has a special plan for each of us.
Week Three is about Jesus’ trials and how he was SILENT through the false accusations. The key verse for this week is “Jesus remained silent.” Matthew 27:12 paraphrase. Our kids will learn the value of words and how to use them wisely (and sometimes that means not saying anything at all).
Week Four reviews Jesus’ death. Kids will learn how important it is to BELIEVE in Jesus. Our key verse for the day will be a paraphrase of John 3:16, “God loved us and sent His Son.”
Week Five will be a celebration as we learn about how Jesus rose from the dead and how we should TELL everyone the Good News! The key verse this week is “We are telling you what we have seen and heard” 1 John 1:3a.
We ask that you would partner with us in prayer over this series. Our deepest desire in Journey Land is that the kids will “get it.” Our motto in Journey Land is “Guiding your child’s first steps on the journey to loving God” and the first steps we will be covering over the next month are some pretty big ones! Pray that this material will be presented on their level, and that their hearts will be open to receiving this foundational truth. Please take the time to review the materials that are sent home with your child and ask them what they learned each Sunday.
We are looking forward to the next month in Journey Land and the investment we will be making for your child’s future!
Daphne Brown/Assistant Director-Journey Land
This past week a group from truenorth church attended unleashed-2010, a conference in Anderson, South Carolina.
It was a great time of team building and gathering new and refreshing idea’s. When you are in the ministry, or any other occupation, you really do need to “fill” yourself. All that really means is-you need to put more things in so that you don’t become depleted or burned out.
For me, it was a time to dream BIG! With our purchase of land this past year at truenorth church, and the idea of starting to build in 2011, I got very excited to see all the idea’s I can bring to the table. But those idea’s bring me to something even bigger-PRAYING!
I know that we are all very excited about the prospect of having our land paid off by August 2010, we only have about $468,000 to go. Not much right? Not really if you look at it through God’s eyes. All He really wants us to do is bring it/give it to Him. How do we do that? Well! We pray BIGGER!
I know this for sure, after looking at all the items it will take to furnish a building once it is built, it is going to take a lot of prayer to accomplish that task. It’s going to take a lot of prayer to accomplish having the land paid off by August of this year, and it’s going to take a lot of prayer for us to break ground in 2011. But I have faith, I know through Him all is possible.
So truenorth church and friends, I ask you this-will you commit to praying for truenorth church? Will you make it a priority to put truenorth on your prayer list? Why, because people need JESUS CHRIST!
Keep dreaming Big…but praying even BIGGER! Our God is awesome!
Nina
It’s funny how some things never change. I was looking through my personal blog posts and ran across this….check it out! It’s from April of 2008. Can you say WOW!
The Buzz from Journey land-April 30th, 2008
“The Buzz”
Our main focus of the morning was to bring everyone on the same page. How do we do that you may ask? Well, we start with the basics.
Casting the Vision:
So what is Journey lands vision. It’s simple, ”Guiding children’s first steps on the journey to loving God.” The vision may be simple but the responsibility is great. It is our responsibility to partnership with parents to build a foundation for each child who walks through our doors. It’s our responsibility to take time out of our busy, crazy lives to “build a Christ like foundation” in the lives of those who will on day stand where we are right now.
Each of us must grab hold of the vision and stand firm on what we believe. This is God’s vision for Journey land, His plan for what He wants to see happen with His children.
Every Child Needs:
Every child needs a safe place to learn.
Every child needs a healthy place to play.
Every child needs a caring leader to teach them.
Teach Three Concepts:
God made me. “Creator”
God loves me. ”Father”
Jesus wants to be my friend forever. ”Relationships”
Partnering with Parents:
We partner with parents in the spiritual development of their child.
God wants to use you in the life of a child and parent to give them a view of Him.
Role Models:
It’s impossible for children to understand a God they can not see unless there are people in their lives showing them what He is like.
There are two things every leader should model: LOVE and JOY.
Well, there ya have it! It hasn’t changed and we stand firm.
Nina Fiedler-Journey Land Director
This past week we made a few “small” changes in Journey Land that we believe will make a “huge” impact.
From the very beginning of Truenorth church-Journey Land we have made our first priority the safety and well-being of each child that enters our facility.
If you joined us this past week you may have seen a sign on the front door of the cafeteria that said, “For the security of our children, these doors will be locked 10 minutes after the start of each service. Please knock and a member of our security team will let you in.”
The idea-if you attend our 8:30 service and come later than 8:40, you will find the doors locked. (This will be true for our other two services) All you need to do is knock on the door and you will be allowed in. This gives us better control of who has access to our Journey Land area. Doors will be unlocked at designated times to allow for traffic flow in-between service.
As a reminder, these doors are emergency exits, they will open from the inside out without needing to be unlocked.
Again, our first priority is the safety and well-being of each child that enters our facility. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve your children in Journey Land.
Nina Fiedler-Director
If you haven’t had the opportunity to participate in our “Easter Outreach” event there is still time, we are collecting Baby items for our families at Ridgeview Manor. Collections will end April 4th, 2010.
This is it! The last week to donate Eggs and CANDY for our EGGSTRAVAGANZA on March 27th, 2010 at Ridgeview Manor. You may bring all donations to Journey Land on Sunday morning or drop them off at the church office, 1297 W. Martin town Road.
If you would like to volunteer for our Easter Egg Hunt at Ridgeview Manor please contact me at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com or 803-279-1555. It’s going to be an awesome time for our community. Why don’t you come and hang out with us. Ridgeview Manor is located off of Bradleyville Road in North Augusta.
NOTHING brings me greater joy than watching the children in Journey Land. They make me laugh….their cute smiles and silly actions, how could it not just make your day.
Today we learned about being silent, the children walked around with masks and pretend to be different animals – they couldn’t say a word. The other children had to guess what they were. Isn’t it amazing what we can learn without saying anything. They did awesome.
Jesus remained silent. Matthew 27:12 Paraphrase
“My Top Three from today”
It was an amazing day in Journey Land! We love our kids…
Over the past few weeks we have collected Easter eggs and candy for our upcoming Eggstravaganza. (March 27th, @11am-2pm @Ridgeview Manor)
After a great deal of time counting eggs and candy the totals are in:
Eggs Collected: 4,500………….WOW!
Candy: 120 lbs. (my stomach hurts already…LOL!)
There are many other items collect through our “Out Reach” project this year. There are so many diapers and wipes, YAY! A huge need has been met. Thank you!
A great big thank you to all those who took time out to donate. You are reaching so many people. Whether it was a bag of eggs or a box of diapers, lives are being touched and the love of Jesus Christ is shinning through.
Stay tuned for an update in the near future about our EGGSTRAVAGANZA at Ridgeview Manor. I am so excited.
Nina
It was a Hit – the Truenorth-Eggstravaganza at Ridgeview Manor. It is still so fresh in my mind and yet so hard to find words to describe the day.
We started with a word of prayer, “Lord Bless this day, open the heart’s of those who will come and may we share your love with each of them.” I would have to say Love, even CRAZY Love, was definitely felt through-out the event. There was so much excitement – not only from the children but the adults too!
At first glance you may have thought there was a crime…but nope, just our crime tape roping off the different age group’s for the Easter Egg Hunt’s. Watching the children running for the egg’s was “priceless.” You couldn’t pay enough money for those moments.
There was face-painting, music, inflatable’s, food, games, bubbles, the Easter Bunny and lot’s of fun! We had over 4,500 egg’s and 150lbs. of candy – thanks to our TNC families who donated the item’s.
Our volunteer’s came out full force, a great big thank you to all! Without each of you today’s event wouldn’t have been successful…your AWESOME!
HAPPY EASTER!
BLESSINGS TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY
Yep! He did it again and Jesus showed up in Journey Land this Easter Sunday.
The children learned that “Jesus is Alive!” (Source: Matthew 27:57-66 & 28:1-7, John 20:11, 14-18)
After the cross, a friend of Jesus named Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate if he could take Jesus’s body and give him a proper burial.
Joseph took Jesus and wrapped him clean linen and laid him in a tomb. They rolled a large rock in front of the tomb and went away.
The leaders who didn’t like Jesus demanded that Pilate put guards at the tomb, so that no one could take Jesus’ body and make it seem like he was alive. So there were guards at the tomb.
On the morning of the third day, Mary Magdelene and the other women came to the tomb. As they approached, they felt the earth shake as an angel rolled the stone away and sat down.
The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. Jesus isn’t here. He’s risen. He’s alive!” The angel sent the women to tell the others the good news.
Later when Mary Magdelene went back to the tomb, Jesus appeared to her. She was so excited she went to tell everyone the good news: Jesus is alive!
The children had a wonderful time learning about Jesus in Clubhouse, they sang songs and watched in awe as the story unfolded.
The day wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t share with you some amazing information. First, I would like to thank all of our volunteer’s who took time out to care for our little one’s. Our number’s indicate that we had approximately 80 volunteer’s serving with us this Sunday. WOW! The most we have ever had.
2nd, thank God again for all our volunteer’s because we had just under 200 children visit with us on Easter Sunday. This number along with the volunteer numbers have blown away any previous service at TrueNorth Church-Journey Land. We also had many first time visitor’s who joined us.
Lastly, I am in awe of the day we had at TrueNorth Church. Our God was glorified, we are truly servant’s of the Lord and He is pleased.
Thank you all, volunteer’s and parent’s. Thank you for allowing us to care for your beautiful children. We do not take what we do lightly, we love your children and want to partner with you in “Guiding their first steps in the journey to loving God.”
Nina Fiedler-Director
The children are going to have a blast learning what the bible tells about the word OBEY! It doesn’t have to be a “bad” word if we follow God’s instructions. We can’t wait to see your children this week as we dig into our new series, “Soul Food.”
Bible Verse: To love God means we obey Him. (1 John 5:3)
Activities: Apple Craft – Coloring Sheet – Activity to reinforce the bible story & Games.
Adam & Eve
in the Garden
Source: Genesis 3:1-24
God created the first man and woman. They were named Adam and Eve. God gave them a beautiful garden to live in. It was called the Garden of Eden. Adam’s job was to take care of the garden.
God told Adam and Eve that they could eat the fruit off of any tree except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God warned them that bad things would happen if they ate from this tree.
One day a snake asked Eve what God told her about the tree. Eve answered the snake and told him that God said bad things would happen if they ate from it. The snake tricked Eve. The snake told Eve that she would be wise like God if she ate from the tree. Eve saw that delicious fruit and wanted to be wise so she ate it.
She gave some to Adam, and he ate it also. Later on they heard the Lord walking in the garden. They were ashamed of what they had done and hid. God told them that because they disobeyed Him, they would have to leave the Garden of Eden forever.
Baby Dedication 2010
WHEN:
North Augusta Campus | Sunday, May 16th, 2010 @ 1:00pm (Blok/Church office) 1297 W. Martin town Road, North Augusta, Sc 29841. 803-279-1555. (Lunch Provided.)
Registration deadline is May 12th, 2010- Pictures must be in no later than this date.
WHO:
Parents who want to publicly declare their intentions to raise their child with the opportunity to know God and establish a personal relationship with Christ.
WHAT:
Baby dedication will be a special event, you’ll want to invite your friends and family and bring your camera.
Attire? Whatever works for you and your child. Many people dress their children in special clothing, others simply bring their child in a favorite outfit.
HOW: You will find information located at “Guest Services” and “Journey Land.” Registration forms can be found online at Registration Form. Please email this form to babydedication@truenorthchurch.com. You may also fax it to 803-279-1559. Then, via email, we would like (1) picture of your child. This should be submitted before May 12th, 2010 for it to be in the presentation on May 16th, 2009.
We look forward to joining with you in “Guiding your child’s first step on the journey to loving God.”
Questions: contact Nina Fiedler at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com or 803-279-1555
Sometimes we wonder if what we do is making a difference. If the time we spend preparing the lessons for Sunday morning matters.
I’m here to tell you that your every move makes a difference in Journey Land. Look what happens when we partner with parent’s…Here is a testimony – 5 year old-Kennedy.
The value in those words bring such joy. This little 5-year-old is getting it. She knows who Jesus is…and she knows that He loves her! Praise God…
So What is P.A.T.H? Well, it’s for all our volunteer’s who are currently involved with Journey Land. It’s for those who are interested in volunteering, and parent’s of Journey Land children who may want to find out what their children do on Sunday morning’s. In other words…everyone is invited to attend. (child-care NOT-provided)
May 22nd, 2010 from 9am t0 12 noon. Located at the “Blok” 1297 W. Martintown Road, North Augusta, Sc 29841
Volunteer’s who are currently volunteering in Journey Land should attend this gathering. We will share a great deal of information that will impact what we do on Sunday mornings.
P…(passion) A…(attitude) T…(teamwork) H…(honor)
For more information or questions please contact Nina Fiedler – ninaf@truenorthchurch.com or 803-279-1555.
Over the next few weeks you will hear a lot said about “Summer Serve” at Truenorth Church. So I thought I would give you a heads up on the scoop!
As you know, Summers are filled with lots of plans…trips to the lake, vacations, ball games, picnics and pool parties …and the list goes on. I’ll have a few of those pool parties myself.
It’s also a great time to slow down the routine pace a bit to try something new and exciting…and what can be more exciting than being a part of reaching Kids for Jesus Christ.
Here at Truenorth Church, Summer Serve opens the doors wide for you to do just that! As you make your plans this season, please consider the unique opportunities available to serve Christ by serving His kids throughout the summer. Being a part of bringing the love and truth of Jesus Christ to children is PRICELESS!
This can be a short-term commitment (May-August). You can volunteer each week during the summer, every other week or once a month. Whatever works with your schedule.
We ask that you come with the Passion, Attitude, Teamwork and Honor (P.A.T.H) to serve our little ones.
Sign – ups will be May 2nd through May 30th. We will have a get to know you meeting on May 22nd, 2010 at 9am to Noon at the “Blok.” 1297 W. Martin town Road. (TNC church office) 803-279-1555
Invite your friends to join you and let’s make this the best Summer Serve at TNC. Our kids deserve it!
For more information please contact Nina Fiedler at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com or 803-279-1555
Journey Land (ages: 6 wks-Kindergarten) or Kidzstuff (ages: 1st – 5th grade)
Baby Dedication 2010
WHEN:
North Augusta Campus | Sunday, May 16th, 2010 @ 1:00pm (Blok/Church office) 1297 W. Martin town Road, North Augusta, Sc 29841. 803-279-1555. (Lunch Provided.)
Registration deadline is May 12th, 2010- Pictures must be in no later than this date.
WHO:
Parents who want to publicly declare their intentions to raise their child with the opportunity to know God and establish a personal relationship with Christ.
WHAT:
Baby dedication will be a special event, you’ll want to invite your friends and family and bring your camera.
Attire? Whatever works for you and your child. Many people dress their children in special clothing, others simply bring their child in a favorite outfit.
HOW: You will find information located at “Guest Services” and “Journey Land.” Registration forms can be found online at Registration Form. Please email this form to babydedication@truenorthchurch.com. You may also fax it to 803-279-1559. Then, via email, we would like (1) picture of your child. This should be submitted before May 12th, 2010 for it to be in the presentation on May 16th, 2009.
We look forward to joining with you in “Guiding your child’s first step on the journey to loving God.”
Questions: contact Nina Fiedler at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com or 803-279-1555
Leadership Essentials for Children’s ministry by Craig Jutila
(Passion, Attitude, Teamwork, Honor)
Passion-When there’s ministry work to do, we can either approach it as a boring chore or as an energizing act of worship: In all the work you are doing, work the best you can. Work as if you were doing it for the Lord, not for people. – Colossians 3:23
Passion Produces:
Drive…It’s the octane for the tank, the gas for the car. With passion, we have the enthusiasm for pushing ahead. With passion, we have the energy to drive through to the finish line of accomplishment.
Possibilities…The bible says, As far as possibilities go, everything is possible for the person who believes. – Mark 9:23
Life Change…As a result of having passion in your life, you will do things you wouldn’t ordinarily do if you were apathetic.
How do you know if you have it?
Excitement and Energy… You can identify passionate people even from their nonverbal communication. They can walk into a room, and the energy level in that room changes.
Enthusiasm and Expectancy…As we minister to kids and within our families, we should be the most enthusiastic people of all, because we are living our lives within the boundaries of God’s love, grace, and power. When you are near passionate people, who love what they do, you’re just waiting for things to happen.
Exceptional Effects…The bottom line is that awesome spiritual results blossom from our passion in ministry.
The Deadly Passion Poisoners
Familiarity…Try to think out of the box. Think of problems as “opportunities.”
Coolness… We occasionally find ourselves losing passion because we are, in fact, spending the majority of our time with apathetic people. “whoever walks with wise people will be wise, but whoever associates with fools will suffer.” (Proverbs 13:20)
Uncertainty…“maybe I’ve got the wrong focus-or no focus at all!” Without focus, there’s no reason to get up in the morning. If we have nothing to live for , it really doesn’t matter how long our lives are.
Rambling…“if I knew what I wanted to do, maybe I could get excited about it.” Similar to having no focus is the unhappy situation of being in ministry with no goals. Without goals you have nothing to focus on.
Hardness…“it seems that my heart has been battered and bruised so many times that it’s developed a real tough skin.” Again, passion is a heart issue, not a mental issue.
How to produce Passion
Contagious Connection-Getting close to passionate People…If you’re not already hanging out with passionate people, then find some, get close, and catch their enthusiasm.
Powerful Prayer-Praying for Passion…if you want passion, you can get it. The question is, are you willing to pay the price for it? In other words, if you want passion, go to your knees in prayer.
Memorable Moments-Keeping Daily Reminders…We can begin to cure our weak passion by keeping a few reminders around us. Discover the wins and celebrate them. “Why are physical reminds so powerful? Because they mark our empowering moments.”
The key to Passion: Purpose
We must organize our lives and ministries to provide the optimum benefits of passion.
One of the ways you can spark passion within your ministry team, among your volunteers, and even throughout your entire congregation is by concentrating on building a sense of ownership. When everyone “takes it personally” – deeply identifies with the mission, the vision, the methods, and the other members of the team – then the passion floodgates will open wide. The simple truth is that we really care about those things that we feel are part of us. We take personal responsibility for those things, and we become passionate about them. We want those things to “be the best,” because they reflect on us.
Newsletter -May 2010
The Bottom Line
Kennedy (Journey Land 5 year old): “Mommy you know Jesus died for us?”
Christina (her mom): “Really??!!”
Kennedy: “Yep, He had holes in His hand because they nailed them.”
Christina: “Really??!!
Kennedy: “Don’t cry Mommy, He rose from the dead, He’s alive and He loves me and you.”
And THAT, right there, is why I love what I do. Journey Land is not for babysitting your child while you attend church, it is to “guide your child’s first steps on the journey to loving God.” When a child “gets it” there is no better feeling in the world! If you would like to be part of a moment like this, please sign up for Summer Serve at Journey Land, or KidzStuff, or even talk to Tommy Wafford about getting plugged in at Element. Your life will be changed for the better!
Save The Dates:
Every Sunday in May: Summer Serve sign ups!
May 12: Deadline to register for the Baby Dedication
May 16: Baby Dedication
May 22: P.A.T.H. meeting (Passion, Attitude, Teamwork, Honor) – we invite you to come learn about Journey Land as we equip our volunteers
May 23: One Day for land payoff
June 7-11: Cross Training sports camp for kids 6-12
Registration Dead-Line: Today, May 12, 2010! Last chance to sign up….
Please click on the following link to find the Baby Dedication registration form. Please complete and email to ninaf@truenorthchurch.com or fax to 803-279-1559. Registration Form
You will need to email a picture of your child to babydedication@truenorthchurch.com(pictures received after 5/12/10 will NOT be included in the presentation)
If you have any questions you may contact Nina Fiedler/Journey Land Director at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com or 803-279-1555.
Thank you,
Nina
Well, Baby Dedication has come and is now gone, but the memories will be forever etched in our minds.
We started our day with Lunch catered from BBQ Barn – they are located in North Augusta. WOW! The food is amazing and the Owner’s and staff are some of the nicest people I have ever meant. They made our experience a very memorable one.
Later we gathered in the “Blok” to hear an amazing song written by T.J. Barton, “Miracle in You.” What a fitting name for a song and what a message it spoke. Babies are truly Miracles, God gives us these miracle to care for. What a blessing.
Pastor Steve shared his heart as a father of 4 children. He has many experiences but what he would like parents to walk away with is the idea of communicating with your children. There are different stages we walk through and in each you will have to communicate with your child on a different level.
Each child received a New Testament Bible to take home. We had coloring sheets and table toys for the children to play with while they ate.
A lesson learned today, Truenorth church is growing. Families are coming, and they are bringing their children. It makes what we do in Journey Land just that more important.
We had approximately 200 people attend our event and 28 children were dedicated. What an amazing testimony, parent’s stepping up and publicly sharing their commitment to raise their children in the ways of the Lord. Family and friends shared in that commitment.
Our next baby dedication will be in November, if you missed this one you definitely won’t want to miss the next one.
A mothers thoughts on her baby girl being dedicated yesterday. Indy who fought for her life, born prematurely at 24 weeks, is now 10 months old.
“Indy got dedicated Sunday, it was very special. She even got a special ‘shout-out’ from Pastor Steve who announced her as a miracle baby. AMEN.
Some friends of ours sang at the dedication a song that he had written to Indy. It was so beautiful. She is so loved. Here is the chorus:
“It’s the miracle in you
It’s the splendor of His love, shining out of you
Every breath you take, every smile that shapes your face
It’s a miracle” -TJ Barton
I tell her every day how many people love her and how much joy she brings everyone. (And how she is going to be a good girl and not stress her parents out when she is a teenager) 
.
She is pretty much sitting by herself now. When she falls, she goes down slowly and works her abs. It is incredible how much faster she is developing now that she can SEE. She has been banging around on her toys. I hold the right arm down, forcing her to use the left hand, and she does! We bought her some new toys today. I don’t like her using the Therapist’s toys. I’m still pretty strict about people washing their hands and her staying off of groddy carpet and away from animals. But she’s never been sick- so it is so worth it. Maybe when she is 12 I will be a little more lax. haha.”
Love you Everyone! Amost 1 yrs old!!! Pool/Floaty party!
Love, 3
Check out what Pastor Steve has to say about Heaven…to follow the sermons for “You Asked for It” go to Truenorth Church.
THE MESSAGE: What Will Heaven Be Like?
Heaven is usually one of the things we decide not to think about until the end of our lives. However, Heaven has an impact on how we live, and in our relationships with Christ. We should be thinking about Heaven for these reasons, and may have some questions about what it will be like.
Where is Heaven? As the answer of a child would indicate, it is up. To think about “up” means a whole lot in our lives. [Read: Psalm 123:1] Setting our sights above, on Heaven, affects how we live on Earth.
What is Heaven like? Heaven is an unimaginable place that is vibrant and alive. [Read: Revelation 21:1-4] God will create a new heaven and a new earth [Read: Isaiah 65:17; 2 Peter 3:13]. It will be a place without death, and will be something we cannot imagine. It doesn’t get better than this. The struggles we’re going through will pass away. It will even be better than our best days and “AHA! moments.”
God will dwell with us. It will be like the moments we’ve felt closest to God all the time. We will see the face of the healer, the redeemer, the rock. God will do away with death, mourning and pain. It will be a new life for all of us.
How can this make a difference now? Too often, we act like Heaven doesn’t matter in the present, but thinking about Heaven can put your life in perspective. You can remove your doubt about going to Heaven. [Read: John 5:1-2] God sent His Son to give us a way into Heaven. It is only by having His son that we go to Heaven. By the grace of God, you are saved. Replace your anxieties with thoughts of Heaven. In this life, you have to set your mind on Heaven. Give God your worries and anxieties. Refocus your energies on treasures in Heaven [Read: Matthew 6:19-21]. Your relationships with others and God will outlast this life.
THE MUSIC: The following songs accompanied Sunday’s message.
Boys of Summer – Don Henley
I Love Rock n’ Roll - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
Rise and Sing - Fee
We Crown You – Fee
Jesus Paid it All - Kristian Stanfill
Promised Land - Fee
Just a few days away from one of the most exciting gatherings in Journey Land. If you are a volunteer, a wanna be volunteer, a parent, or someone who hasn’t found a place to participate in on Sunday mornings – we invite you.
Come check out who we are and what we do in Journey Land. More importantly, come love on some of God’s children with us in “Guiding their first steps in the journey to loving God.”
So What is P.A.T.H? Well, it’s for all our volunteer’s who are currently involved with Journey Land. It’s for those who are interested in volunteering, and parent’s of Journey Land children who may want to find out what their children do on Sunday morning’s. In other words…everyone is invited to attend. (child-care NOT-provided)
May 22nd, 2010 from 9am t0 12 noon. Located at the “Blok” 1297 W. Martintown Road, North Augusta, Sc 29841
Volunteer’s who are currently volunteering in Journey Land should attend this gathering. We will share a great deal of information that will impact what we do on Sunday mornings.
P…(passion) A…(attitude) T…(teamwork) H…(honor)
For more information or questions please contact Nina Fiedler – ninaf@truenorthchurch.com or 803-279-1555.
June 6th, 2010…
Journey Land Game Day…lot’s of fun stuff to do for the kids. We will celebrate Jesus by gathering together and having some fun reviewing what we have learned over the past several weeks, “Soul Food.”
Our next series starts June 13th, 2010, “See Do.” We will follow the message along with Pastor Steve for the first few weeks in June. We will discuss the book of “James.”
Keep coming back to the blog as I will continue to update you on our amazing Summer ahead of us! It’s gonna be a BLAST! Lot’s of vacation time scheduled - but you won’t want to miss even one Sunday…
Nina
Over the past few years I seem to get the same questions every summer “Do you know of anyone who needs a babysitter” or “Do you know a babysitter?” Actually I’m not only asked during the summer but all year-long. Each year I try to connect the two together.
This year I had an idea. What if those who are looking to baby sit over the summer emailed me their resumes. This way when I am asked by a parent I can forward that information to them and they can make the call. Simple right? I thought so.
So, if you are high school or even college age you can forward me your resume to ninaf@truenorthchurch.com. Include on your resume any pertinent information that would be helpful to a parent when looking for a qualified sitter. Here are some examples:
These are just a few…make it your own! Parent’s, you can also email me any information regarding your need for a sitter…how many children you have, their ages and any other information that you find pertinent.
This is something I am doing to help others, it in no way holds Truenorth Church responsible. You should call all references and determine on your own if this is something that will work for your family. Please know that I am not personally or professionally recommending the sitters or parent’s.
So send me an email if this is something you are interested in.
Nina
JUNE 13
CHEERFULNESS
Object Lesson: (Hold up Gatorade) I love to drink one of these when I am hot and thirsty. When I have been outside for a long time, it tastes so good to come and get a cold drink. But one time I went in the house and we were out of drinks—even water! I got so angry! I wanted a cold drink and there weren’t any. So I had to get a cup and drink some water from the faucet. That wasn’t as good and it really made me grumpy. Later on I realized that my attitude was not very good. God wants me to be thankful for what I have and not complain when something doesn’t go my way.
Today we are going to hear a story about some people who grumbled and complained a lot. They were always complaining to Moses. But God still did great things for them. He provided for them even when their attitudes were not good.
Story: Read the Bible Story provided for today from the craft table.
Review: Use the following questions to review the lesson with the children.
Memory Verse: Introduce today’s verse to the children by saying it with them several times. Make it a competition between the girls and boys if you want. Add hand motions and changing inflection to make the verse come alive. Explain what the verse means to the kids.
“Do everything without complaining.”
Philippians 2:14
Craft: There will be no craft today.
Snack:
This is a time for a class snack where leaders can reinforce the Bible story, memory verse or encourage a personal application among the kids. Be sure to pray before the kids eat their snack and thank Jesus for the food. If you would like, ask the children if any of them want to pray for the class. Or lead them in a prayer, stopping after each short sentence for the children to repeat after you. That way they will learn to pray to God also.
After snack, encourage the children to clean up after themselves by throwing away their trash. Give lots of praise for good manners and following directions.
Game: Funny Faces
Directions: Have the children form two groups and sit down in two lines. Instruct the first person in each line to make a happy, silly face and show it to the person behind him/her. That person will imitate the face and show it to the person behind him/her until the face has traveled all the way to the end of the line. The person at the end of the end will run up to the beginning of the line and make a different face. Continue playing until everyone has had a turn.
Lesson Tie In: Talk with the children about what it means to be cheerful. When we laugh and have fun, it helps us keep out of bad moods. If we are laughing it will be hard to grumble at the same time.
Pray:
Dear God, You have done so much for me. I have so much to be thankful for. Please help me to not complain or blame others for the things that happen in my life. Help me to learn and see what You want me to do and then to do it with a cheerful heart. Help me to trust You because Your plan for my life will always be for the best. Amen
As children are being checked out, we ask that you keep in their seats at tables while they play with table top toys again. Make sure they have all their personal belongings and craft and take home items from the day. You may wish to let them look at the Bible Story flipbook and tell the story using the pictures they see.
We believe that safety is vital as families entrust us with their children each week. Therefore, every child’s name tag is matched to a parent-pager, every volunteer is screened with an interview, federal background check and personal references. Our hallways and doorways are monitored with security personnel.
We desire that each child come to experience a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. We also value our children’s relationships within the small group setting as they relate to their small group leader and other children within the group.
We are passionate about children learning about Jesus in a way they understand. Our environments and lesson materials are selected based on the physical, mental and emotional needs of each child.
The Bible is the most amazing book ever written! We strive to bring its stories to life through activities and discussions that keep children engaged. We want all children to love God’s word and understand the value of applying it to their lives.
Kids love fun! We realize that when children have fun at church, they can’t wait to come back. We value creating fun ways for children to learn about Jesus.
Object Lesson: (Hold up trash) It drives me crazy when I find trash lying around, especially outside. It really spoils how everything is supposed to look. All people need to do is just pick up their trash and throw it away into a trash can. It doesn’t take that long and it’s better for all the plants and animals. So sometimes when I see trash on the ground, I will pick it up and throw it away. I want to set a good example for others so that more people will do that too.
Today we are going to hear a story about how Jesus set a good example for His friends, the disciples. He did something that usually a servant did. But He showed His friends what it really meant to serve others.
Story: Read the Bible Story provided for today from the craft table.
Jesus Washed the Disciple’s Feet
Source: John 13:4-5, 12-17 CEV
Jesus and his disciples were getting ready to have a special dinner together.
The roads were hot and dusty and everyone usually wore sandals.
When Jesus and his disciples came to the house for the special meal, their feet were very dirty. They needed to be washed.
Usually there was someone in the house that would wash all of the guests’ feet. This time it was Jesus who got up to do the job.
Jesus wrapped a towel around his waist. He poured water into a large bowl and began to wash each of the disciples’ feet. Peter felt that he should be washing Jesus’ feet, not Jesus washing his feet.
But Jesus asked his disciples, “Do you understand why I am doing this? You call me your teacher and Lord, and you are right, I am. So if your teacher and Lord is washing your feet, you should do the same for others.”
(Source: John 13:4-5, 1
Review: Use the following questions to review the lesson with the children.
Memory Verse: Introduce today’s verse to the children by saying it with them several times. Make it a competition between the girls and boys if you want. Add hand motions and changing inflection to make the verse come alive. Explain what the verse means to the kids.
“Always be a good example.” Titus 2:7
Snack:
This is a time for a class snack where leaders can reinforce the Bible story, memory verse or encourage a personal application among the kids. Be sure to pray before the kids eat their snack and thank Jesus for the food. If you would like, ask the children if any of them want to pray for the class. Or lead them in a prayer, stopping after each short sentence for the children to repeat after you. That way they will learn to pray to God also.
After snack, encourage the children to clean up after themselves by throwing away their trash. Give lots of praise for good manners and following directions.
Game: Follow the Leader
Directions: Choose a child to be the leader. The rest of the class will line up behind him/her. The leader will lead the class around the room doing various actions, such as: clapping, hopping, turning in a circle, hands waving, etc. Have different children take turns saying, “I can be a good example.” Allow other children to take turns being the leader.
Lesson Tie In: Talk with the children about how other people watch the things that we do. We can set a good example by using nice words and being kind to others. We can all be leaders when we choose to be good examples!
Pray:
Dear Jesus, You are the best example! You are always loving and always kind. Please help me to be a good example to the people around me. Help me to be kind and helpful. Help me to be a person that others will want to follow because I know and love You. Amen
As children are being checked out, we ask that you keep them in their seats at tables while they play with table top toys again. Make sure they have all their personal belongings and craft and take home items from the day. You may wish to let them look at the Bible Story flipbook and tell the story using the pictures they see.
What a summer and it’s not close to being over. Just because it’s summer doesn’t mean that Journey Land is taking a vacation. Oh NO! We are still moving forward with our lessons each week and the children are learning so much.
Our series this summer is “See Do.” Just this past week we learned that “Jesus set a good example for His friends.” Over the next several weeks we will have fun learning about Jesus.
Parent’s, ask your children what they are learning when you pick them up from Journey Land. Ask them about their pictures or visuals they bring home, they all have a meaning behind them to help children remember their lesson of the day.
We have lot’s going on…keep updated by following our blog. We will also send home information on Sunday mornings. Keep your eyes open.
We love partnering with our parents in building a Christ like foundation in your children’s lives.
The Journey Land Team!
In our house, superheroes are a big thing. Thanks to my husband, my girls know all about every superhero. My youngest already wants to be a superhero for Halloween (which I guess is not that far away – Yikes!). Superheroes are cool, but they pale in comparison to our God.
In Journey Land we’ve been learning it’s not just about seeing or hearing God’s word…it’s about doing it too…but how can we mortals compare to the ultimate superhero? For the next three weeks, we’ll focus on God’s power, remember all of His miracles, and believe that nothing is impossible with God.
I found a fabulous song by Hillsong Kids that we’ll be doing in Journey Land over the next three weeks. It’s even called “Superhero.” We sing about all the things that God has done, and how Jesus can be our Superhero; better than Spiderman, Superman, Batman, etc. After we played it this week, the kids asked if we could do it again (this has never happened!) so we’re posting the song here for parents to share with their kids. Use it as a conversation opener to discuss WHY Jesus is a better superhero…what has He done in the life of your family? What things can we do to try to be like Him? Take the time to engage your kids…you might be amazed at the profound things they will say.
Once again I thank you for allowing me to share the first steps with your children on their journey to loving God…but I think they have taught me more than I have taught them!
Daphne Brown-Journey Land
Assistant Director
Some things I am reading today…found it interesting and very relevant for Journey Land Leaders…(which by the way is everyone)
Matthew 20: 20-28 (msg)
24-28When the ten others heard about this, they lost their tempers, thoroughly disgusted with the two brothers. So Jesus got them together to settle things down. He said, “You’ve observed how godless rulers throw their weight around, how quickly a little power goes to their heads. It’s not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for the many who are held hostage.”
4-11God’s various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful:
wise counsel, clear understanding, simple trust, healing the sick, miraculous acts, proclamation, distinguishing between spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues.
All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.
5-8Servants, respectfully obey your earthly masters but always with an eye to obeying the real master, Christ. Don’t just do what you have to do to get by, but work heartily, as Christ’s servants doing what God wants you to do. And work with a smile on your face, always keeping in mind that no matter who happens to be giving the orders, you’re really serving God. Good work will get you good pay from the Master, regardless of whether you are slave or free.
1-2Later the Master selected seventy and sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he intended to go. He gave them this charge:
“What a huge harvest! And how few the harvest hands. So on your knees; ask the God of the Harvest to send harvest hands.
7-10Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
Just a few things I have read. God sure does keep me centered on Him, knowing that this is His not mine!
Hello volunteers!
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Parent’s of rising 1st graders:
This Sunday, August 1st our rising 1st graders will visit Kidzstuff in the Gymnasium at TrueNorth Church.
You will bring your children to Journey Land and check them in as normal. We will then go to Kidzstuff as a group. Once service is over you will return to Journey Land and check your child out.
Starting August 8th you will officially check your 1st graders into Kidzstuff. You will be asked to complete an information card for their records.
If you have any questions about your childs promotion into Kidzstuff or if you would like to attend with your child on August 1st…please feel free to contact Nina Fiedler (Journey Land) or Sheila Mendel (Kidzstuff) at 803-279-1555.
We are sad to see your children go from Journey Land but are very excited to see them move into Kidzstuff….
Thank you,
Nina Fiedler
With students heading back to school, some local churches are seizing the opportunity to reach out to the less fortunate in the community.
TrueNorth Church will be holding a Back-to-School Bash on Sunday at the Ridgeview Manor apartments on Bradleyville Road.
TrueNorth missions pastor Mike Fiedler said the church adopted the apartment complex as a specific target for outreach about three years ago.
According to Fiedler, the decision came from the church’s passion for mission work and desire to help the apartment complex’s lower-income residents.
“We want to be a church that’s more outward focused than inward focused,” Fiedler said. “There is a verse of Scripture in The Message Bible that says, ‘The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. (John 1:14).’
“We’re out there a lot, but typically we try to do three or four larger events out there a year,” he said.
“It’s almost a neighborhood block party where they can come out and it will be a carnivallike atmosphere.”
Fiedler said the church will distribute bookbags with school supplies for people who live in Ridgeview Manor.
There also will be funnel cakes and drinks, a disc jockey and water inflatables.
Anyone who would like to donate school supplies for needy students may drop them off at the TrueNorth Church’s office at 1297 W. Martintown Road.
Woodridge Baptist Church also will throw a Block Party as a way to reach out to the community.
“This is actually the third time we’ve had one. It’s the first time we’ve done it in five or six years,” said Pastor Ron Hasty.
“We’re trying to reach out to the community in general, especially the Hispanic population, because there’s a lot of need there.”
The event will be held at the church at 401 Birch St. and will include inflatable, free hot dogs and drinks, a performance by contemporary Christian group The Abide Band, and the church’s puppet team. Some donated school clothes will also be available for those in need, Hasty said.
Donations of clothing or school supplies may be dropped of at the church, he said.
Reach Jonathan Overstreet at jonathan.overstreet@northaugustatoday.com.
Sometimes I wonder, why God has blessed me so. Journey Land is an amazing ministry, the volunteers, the children. WOW! they are all so awesome.
Here’s a video of just a glimpse of what we do each Sunday morning with your children. Look how much fun we all are having worshiping Our God who rains.
(from Pastor Steve Davis)
On Sunday we celebrate SIX YEARS TNC! Can you believe it??? How time flies when you’re having FUN!!!! We are looking forward to an INCREDIBLE day of celebration and ministry. Our mission the past 6 years has been to “transform spiritual seekers into passionate followers of Jesus” and Sunday we will celebrate transformation as 30 people publicly declare their faith in Jesus as they are DUNK’D (baptized)! We will also KICK OFF a powerful new series, entitled, UNSTOPPABBLE! I can’t wait to share Sunday as we consider the UNSTOPPABLE HOPE we have in Christ and His church! You don’t want to miss it and you don’t want a friend or “fish” to miss this special day. I’m praying you will make the “invite” and I’m expecting many people to open their hearts to Jesus this Sunday!
We will also be receiving our EPIC 2010 LAND OFFERING on Sunday. You may remember that we kicked off this year with the HUGE challenge of paying off our land note in 2010. On Sunday, January 4, I invited every TNCer to commit $1.00, $2.00 or 3.00 a day for 229 days until August 22nd. Many of you made an EPIC 2010 Commitment to join together in giving this offering on our 6th Anniversary. I can’t wait to see what God does through our generosity together Sunday!
As I look forward to Sunday, I’m humbled by what God has done through our family of faith the past six years! We have been so blessed by our Great God! Thank you for your loving spirit and your faithfulness to the vision He has given us. To God be the Glory for the Great Things He has Done!
I love you, and what a joy it is to serve Jesus with you!
Steve Davis
Lead Pastor
There’s a very special story I would like to share about two people who have become friends. It’s not your ordinary story – to me – it’s one of God’s miracles.
The story is about a man named Will, he volunteers in Journey Land. He’s a man who gives more than we could ever ask of him. He comes in at 6 a.m each Sunday morning and doesn’t leave until the last item is packed on the truck that afternoon.
It’s also a story about a very special boy named Sean. Several months ago Sean and his family started attending TrueNorth Church…and this is where the relationship begins.
Sunday mornings are very special for this pair, Will waits for Sean to arrive in Journey Land…the smile just bursts out of him as Sean walks in. Sean sees Will and runs to him. What a picture! The two are inseparable through-out the day.
I watch as Will walks around with Sean, showing him each of the individual area’s of J-land. They will stop in Clubhouse, listen to a few songs or listen to the bible story. Then off to get snack in another classroom and then to another room to play with toys. It’s a match made from heaven if you ask me. One that God has perfectly made.
Will is what we call a Kidzpartner. He shadows Sean each Sunday morning - allowing him to be part of our services in Journey Land in a way that works for Sean. It’s the individual attention that helps him learn about Jesus in a safe environment, with loving people who care so much about him.
But it doesn’t end on Sunday mornings for Will. Will has taken another step in building a relationship with Sean and his family. Most Friday mornings you will find him at Sean’s school volunteering in his classroom.
This past month Sean had an amazing opportunity…here are a few words from his mother.
“Sean had the chance to go surfing today! There is a group called Surfer’s Healing that travels around the US coasts and takes autistic kids surfing. They were in Folly Beach, SC and Sean was chosen to go! It’s a great experience and he had a blast!”
As you can see – Journey Land is more than a Sunday event or program. It is a family, a team of people who love children from the bottom of their hearts. A team who goes above all else to show God’s love. And in return, we are blessed beyond any words that can describe it.
Thank you Will for your heart and thank you God for bringing Sean to TNC…we love him and look forward to seeing how you continue to use him for your Glory!
Over the past few weeks in Journey Land we have had a new set up with our 3′s, 4′s, and 5 year olds. They are so tiny/little but are able to learn so much.
The new design has them coming directly into our “Clubhouse.” There will be a time of worship, bible story and prayer before they go directly to their “Small groups” to discuss what they have learned that day.
This new schedule is working out beautifully, what’s most amazing is the fact that the children are retaining what they are learning. I continue to stand in awe as these little people share their hearts about God.
At the end of the day we ask the children if they have any prayer requests? And of course they do…their hearts are so pure, filled with love and joy. But they too carry the ways of this world on their shoulders. Let’s join together in praying for our Journey Land children and lifting their prayers up to our wonderful God…
(the names of the children are private…but their prayers are real)
How sweet these children are. How blessed I am to be part of each life God has brought our way.
As I held a crying baby this after noon I thought, I truly can’t think of anything more pleasing. The pleasure I felt rocking him, the joy I experienced knowing that his parents would be comforted knowing their little one was being loved on and cared for.
As he fell asleep in my arms I watched him take each little breath. The peace of a sleeping child is something I think everyone should experience. It’s breath-taking. This is what we do in Journey Land. We take God’s beautiful children and give our all. We are blessed beyond explanation.
Nina Fiedler
Journey Land Director
Every wonder what your children are doing in Journey Land while you are in big church? Well here it is, this weeks lesson step by step. Check it out, a lot of time and energy goes into the lessons so that our children are learning about Jesus each week.
Oh, and if you ever thought about volunteering in Journey Land, this will give you an idea of what the experience is like. It’s all prepared for you, all you have to do is have the heart and passion for children and we do the rest.
Children Start out in Clubhouse (large group)
SONG 1: Cha – Cha Slide
VIDEO: Agent P song
MEMORY VERSE: “Go to all people and make them my believers” Mt 28:19a
SONG 2: Shine
GAME: Follow the Leader
Get everyone to line up. HOST leads children around doing various activities (walking, hopping on one foot, waving arms, squatting, marching, etc). Then allow several children to be the leader.
After the game: We need to remember that Jesus wants us to follow Him, just like we followed the leader. He is our leader, and He wants us to be just like him.
WORD:
Intro the clip where we will learn the word for the day
After the clip:
Remember that EQUIP means to provide whatever is needed for any task or job. The way we want to EQUIP you here in Journey Land is to do just what we are doing right now…Having fun learning about God and what He wants us to do. Just like our game, how can we follow our leader if we don’t know what He wants us to do? That’s why it’s important to come here every week and pay attention to our Bible story and talk with your leaders in small group. That way, we can give you the things you will need to be able to share Jesus with others.
Also remember, next Saturday is Second Saturday. Ask your parents if you can go with them to make new friends and invite them here to Journey Land and tell them how much Jesus loves them!
SONG 3: Broadcast
BIBLE STORY: Calling the Disciples Mark 1:16-20
REVIEW:
What a great story! The disciples had not yet been taught so they could not yet equip others. Jesus invited them to come and follow Him and He would SHOW them how to fish for people. Jesus wasn’t talking about fishing for people in a lake or ocean. He was talking about fishing for people to teach them more about Him. He was going to EQUIP His disciples by showing them how to do something, not just by telling them how to do something.
We can EQUIP others by showing them the right things to do.
SONG 4: My Number 1
PRAYER:
Dear Jesus,
Please help me to think of one person I can invite to Journey Land so they can be better EQUIPped to serve you.
Amen
DISMISS TO SGLs: (small groups)
At this time, you will dismiss groups by age to their small group time.
Hold up picture of Bible Story. Have your kids tell YOU about today’s story. Try to make sure everyone gets a turn.
ASK: How can you show others what Jesus wants?
(Ex: being kind, doing what’s right, going to church)
ASK: Why is it important to be in a small group?
(Ex: to learn more, to encourage others, to pray with others)
ASK: How can you “fish” for people?
(Ex: telling others about Jesus, inviting others to church)
ASK: What was the name of the sea that Jesus walked on?
(Galilee)
ASK: Do you know who Simon’s brother was?
(Andrew)
ASK: What’s another name for the stories Jesus told?
(parable)
ASK: What does this mean to me and you?
If you need to prompt answers, remind them that we need to show others how to do things…we are the example. We have been learning about how God wants us to tell others about Him, and He will give us the courage to do that. He wants us to be an example of Him to others.
ASK: What can you do this week to EQUIP (show)?
Allow them to come up with their own answers, then remind them others are always watching us. We need to be a good example to others of how Jesus loves others. We also can share with them the things we have learned at Journey Land and even invite them to come with us next week.
ASK: How can we pray for you to do these things?
Go around the circle and write down each child’s prayer request. Please also ask if anything else is going on that they want to take to God for His help. We will keep track of these prayer requests weekly, so be sure to write them down in the “Prayer Requests” section of your notebook.
After you have received all requests, take time to pray about what we have learned today and for each child’s requests.
Once you have finished praying:
Make sure kids have all their belongings as they check out. High fives as they leave and invite them back next week.
Come on out this 2nd Saturday, September 11th, 2010. We meet at the “Blok” (1297 Martintown Road, North Augusta) 8:30 am for Coffee and Donuts – we’ll have you back by noon.
In just a few short hours we can make a huge impact on our community! For more information please contact our Church office at 803-279-1555.
Kid friendly and Adult friendly too!
We continue to celebrate the impact we are having in our community. Each 2nd Saturday I see the difference 3 hours makes in a person’s life.
This past Saturday we spent time at Ridgeview, our “Adopt A Block”. We hung out with families and played games with the children. We even celebrated a birthday, krispy kream became our birthday cake. Lot’s of fun building relationships.
Come join us next 2nd Saturday at Ridgeview, October 9th. We meet at 1297 West Martintown Road at 8:30.
Has your child come home from church/Journey land singing a song and doing these funny motions that you have no idea what they are?
Well, here is just a glimpse of what they are learning in Journey Land. Enjoy and take some time out to sing this week with your child. It will be great “quality” time.
We love praising our God!
A glimpse at some of the songs our children will be singing with our new series “what’s bugging you”…it’s gonna be fun and creepy all at the same time.
*note…these videos will not be shown with the music, age appropriate material will be added.*
“This is the Day our God has made.”
“Your Worthy of my Praise.” (kid friendly motions added)
“I’m Really Happy”
“Chicken Dance”
There is lot’s going on in the world of Missions at Truenorth Church…keep up to date with our “Monday Morning Mission Update.”
For more information contact Mike Fiedler at 803-279-1555 or mikef@truenorthchurch.com
It seems that the work is never done. Moving from one series to the next. This is what the Journey Land crew is working on today – so that your/our little ones will learn about our amazing God!
Christmas is in the air…YIKES!
Everyone can use a little “Grace.”
Here are just a few dates to put on your Calendar…It’s gonna be a “Creepy” kind of month at Ridgeview.
Stay tuned…the holidays are here and lot’s going on. If you want to be apart of Ridgeview give me a call 803-279-1555 or email me ninaf@truenorthchurch.com. Lot’s of places to volunteer your time and help our community.
October
4th
9TH
13th
29th (contact Shannon Kilpatrick-shannon564@yahoo.com)
25th
More information to follow – looks like there is a shortage on pumpkins.
I had the amazing opportunity this past week to sit in our 5-k small group. Children continually shock me, they have such pure hearts. We think that because they are so young they are not able to learn or understand who Jesus/God is. That is so far from the truth.
This past week in their “Clubhouse” time I watched as they acted out Jeremiah 29:11.
“’I know the plans I have for you’ says the Lord.”
To follow is the study our children talked about Sunday…spend sometime with your kids asking questions. Some of the same questions we asked them are in the following information. They are sponges…let’s fill them with the word of God so they can soak it up and pass it on.
October 10th, 2010 Journey Land….”Clubhouse” 3-5 year olds.
BIBLE STORY: John the Baptist Matthew 3:1-12
HOST: We are going to tell our Bible story a little differently today. I need 5 volunteers to come up here and help me. Assign parts: John the Baptist, 3 people for the crowd, and Jesus. Explain to the volunteers to listen to the story you are reading and act out what you say. As you read, make sure to pause for them to act out the story (and you may need to give them cues).
John the Baptist lived alone out in the desert before he began preaching. He wore clothes made out of camel’s hair and ate locusts and wild honey.
When he started preaching, he told people to turn away from their sin because the kingdom of heaven was near. (Encourage “John” to teach the kids seated at the rugs)
People came from all over to see and listen to John. (Encourage the “crowd” to enter here)
Some people confessed their sins and he baptized them in the Jordan River. He explained to the crowd that he only baptized with water, but someday One would come who was more powerful than him. He was talking about Jesus. (Encourage “Jesus” to enter here)
John was preparing the way for Jesus to come and save them. He wanted the people to prepare their hearts to receive the things that Jesus would tell them. (Encourage “Jesus” to teach the kids seated at the rugs)
REVIEW:
1. Where did John the Baptist live? In the desert
2. What kind of clothes did he wear? Made from camel-hair and sandals
3. What did John the Baptist want people to know? How to prepare to go to Heaven
4. Who did John the Baptist prepare the way for? Jesus
5. How can we prepare to go to Heaven? Learn from the Bible what God wants us to do and do it right
SONG 3: You’re Worthy of My Praise
WORD:
Today our word is PREPARE. Can you say that with me? (Allow them to repeat several times) Who can tell me what PREPARE means? (Allow someone to answer “get ready”)
We are going to be talking about a different bug every week for the next 7 weeks. Today we are talking about grasshoppers. Everyone stand up and lets act like grasshoppers. (Allow children to hop around for a few minutes) Very good! Let’s go back to our seats now.
A grasshopper hops around doesn’t he? God made all the bugs in the world! Just like a grasshopper has to PREPARE before he leaps in the air, we need to PREPARE our hearts to learn about God.
So how do we PREPARE our hearts? We can come to church and hear about God, just like we are doing right now. We can talk to God anytime by praying. We can ask Him to forgive us for the wrong things we do and ask him to help us learn more. When we spend time reading the Bible and coming to church, we are choosing to PREPARE ourselves to learn about God. When we learn Bible verses and sing fun worship songs, we are getting ready for God.
That is so easy, and you know what, we have been doing all of those things today! Let’s stand up right now and sing another song to worship God!
SONG 4: I’m Really Happy
MEMORY VERSE:
Since this is our first week of the new memory verse, take time to go over the motions of our verse with the kids, then repeat several times.
“’I know the plans I have for you’ says the Lord.”
Jeremiah 29:11
GAME: What is special about me? (Hot Potato)
Have the children stand in a circle. As the music is playing, the children pass around a bean bag. When the music stops, the child who is holding the bean bag can tell everyone something that is special about them.
After the game, have everyone go back to their seats: God made us all and everyone is different. God made each of us with different things we can do well and things that we like and don’t like. He made us all special, just the way He likes us!
PRAYER:
Dear Jesus,
I know that You have a plan for the whole world and even me. I need to be ready to learn more about You. Help me to start making good decisions.
Amen
Once again – I stand in awe of the things I see each Sunday morning. God truly knew what he was doing when he blessed us with children.
This new series, “What’s Bugging You,” we have started something a little different in Clubhouse. Usually the children will see the bible story told on DVD, it’s fun, very kid friendly and very relevant to this age group. However, our leaders decided to present it a different way.
When it is time for the bible story to be told, children are called up to play a part in the story. This week as I watched, I saw Evan continually repeat “And it was good! after each day that God had made. Each child held up a sign with a picture representing what God had made.
The other children repeated after the host what God had made. The children were engaged in the story and I believe are learning in a new and fun way who God is. That is so exciting to me.
(Here is what our children learned today 10-17-10…please review)
I am going to ask for more volunteers today for our Bible story. I need 8 friends to help me today. Assign parts for God, Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, and Day 7. Hand out the pieces of paper to the corresponding day. Instruct “God” to stand in the middle with the days to the side. As he makes each Day, have that child come to the front and show everyone the picture they are holding. After the “Day” shows off His or her picture, have “God” say “It is good!”
God created everything! God had a plan for how He created everything. Nothing on Earth was made by accident. God made the earth, space, stars, water and wind. All He had to do was speak and it happened! After everything He made, God said that it was good. It was all exactly how He planned it.
Day One: God created light, and made day and night. (Make sure “Day 1” shows off the picture for all the kids to see. Then have “God” say, “It is good!”)
Day Two: God created sky and air. (Make sure “Day 2” shows off the picture for all the kids to see. Then have “God” say, “It is good!”)
Day Three: God created land, sea, grass, plants and trees. (Make sure “Day 3” shows off the picture for all the kids to see. Then have “God” say, “It is good!”)
Day Four: God created the sun, moon and stars. (Make sure “Day 4” shows off the picture for all the kids to see. Then have “God” say, “It is good!”)
Day Five: God created birds and fish. (Make sure “Day 5” shows off the picture for all the kids to see. Then have “God” say, “It is good!”)
Day Six: God created animals, insects, reptiles and people. (Make sure “Day 6” shows off the picture for all the kids to see. Then have “God” say, “It is good!”)
Day Seven: God rested. (Make sure “Day 7” shows off the picture for all the kids to see)
REVIEW:
1. Who created everything? God
2. What did God say when He made everything? It is good
3. On what day did God make people? Day 6
4. What did God do on day seven? He rested
5. Did God make anything on accident? NO!
I get the biggest kick out of the children when they are singing…they get to jump around – spin all around. How fun is that all in the name of Jesus. They are learning at an early age that they can have fun learning about our God. Check out a previous post with this series worship songs…http://wp.me/pkehN-eU
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted the kids prayer requests. Once again – I am in awe of the things they are asking for. Now you have to remember, these are the things in our children’s lives that are important to them. Please join with me in praying for our children of Journey Land and TrueNorth Church.
Prayer Request:
This is a huge opportunity to make a big difference in our Community and at TrueNorth Church…This Thanksgiving give the blessing of a Turkey to those less fortunate.
Last year we delivered our Turkeys to families at Ridgeview Manor and Gentry trailer park. We had a great time visiting with families and sharing in their stories. I am always amazed at God’s provisions.
Buy One, Bless One
The Thanksgiving turkeys are back! This Thanksgiving, we are again offering smoked turkeys and Boston butts for $25 each, with the opportunity to buy a turkey for an under-resourced family in Ridgeview Manor or Gentry Trailer Park. Order forms with additional information will be available at Guest Services on Sunday (October 24th). Forms and money are due back by Sunday, October 31.
TrueNorth Church, 1297 W. Martintown Rd. North Augusta, Sc 29841 803-279-1555
Another amazing Trunk or Treat at Ridgeview Manor this past Friday evening. We had lot’s of families come out and get some candy. We even had a visit from the Element van! Cool….
Trunk or Treat – 1st, 2nd &3rd place winners!
Look at the faces, see all the smiles, so much love being shared. Pictures and video capture the moments we share at Ridgeview Manor, an apartment complex with 80 units.
This is our adopt-a-block, this is what we do on 2nd Saturday each month, this is what we do on Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and many other times through-out the year. Why? because we want to share the love of Jesus Christ. We want to be His hands and feet. The bible tells us…John 1:14 (msg) The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhoods…this is who we are at TrueNorth Church.
If you haven’t experienced being involved with your community, you are truly missing out on God’s blessings. You are missing out on the joy of serving others, you are missing out on seeing the smiles of the children-families. You are missing out on making a difference and receiving the incredible reward of watching your gift being received. It is life changing, I promise.
This video captures so much of what we do and how I personally feel. Shannon describes it so well. Enjoy!
WOW! I can’t believe it but the holidays are here. Thanksgiving is next week, I thought someone was playing a silly joke on me the other day when they mentioned that to me. I just can’t believe it!
With that being said, Journey Land is hard at work getting our Curriculum ready, our schedules posted and everything just right to make this year another amazing time.
November 28th we will have 2-services on the TrueNorth Campus, 10am and 11:30-ONLY. Volunteer’s are asked to post their schedules on “Planning Center” – this is crucial to being organized and properly staffed.
This is also the day many will be Dunk’d…our word for baptized. If you are interested in being Dunk’d please contact the church office at 803-279-1555. This is a wonderful experience, you will want to invite all your friends and family.
*As a reminder, there will be NO Kidzstuff November 28th, our children grades 1st-5th will join us for our celebration of baptism*
December 5th…Our Communion Service at TNC…all 3 services, 8:30am, 10am, and 11:30.
December 19th…CHRISTMAS BASH: It’s back again this year. We had such a wonderful time last year, the kids had a blast. They learned about relationships and who Jesus Christ is. If you would like to get involved and volunteer for this awesome outreach at TrueNorth Church please contact Sheila Mendell at 803-279-1555.
December 23rd, 7pm we will have one of our four Christmas services. Child care is available, check in time is 6:30 for children ages infants through 5 years old, kindergarten. We will have three other services Christmas Eve, December 24th at 2pm, 4pm, and 6pm. Again, child care is available for ages infants through 5 years old, kindergarten. Check in for this time is 30 minutes prior to service staring.
If you are interested in helping/volunteering for any of these services please contact me at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com. This is a great opportunity for your J-Team to get involved.
Hey TNC’ers! We are getting ready for the holidays! Mark your calendars now…
LIFT UP
Dunk’d
We will be having our next Dunk’d (baptism service) on Sunday, November 28 (Thanksgiving weekend). We will only be having TWO SERVICES on Thanksgiving Sunday – 10:00 and 11:30 AM and there will be no KidzStuff for grades 1-5. If you are interested in being baptized, be sure to attend the Baptism class on Sunday, November 21 at 10:00 am in the Choir Room at N.A.H.S.
Christmas Communion
Join us on Sunday, December 5 for communion during each of our three Sunday morning services at 8:30, 10:00 and 11:30 am at North Augusta High School.
Christmas @ TNC
Christmas will be here before you know it! This year, TNC will be having 4 services: Thursday, December 23 at 7:00 PM and Friday, December 24 at 2:00, 4:00, and 6:00. Journey Land, ages 6 weeks to kindergarten, will be available for these services, but KidzStuff, grades 1-5, will not. In addition, there will be no services on Sunday, December 26.
LOVE IN
Class 101
Our next Class 101 is Saturday, November 20, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM at The Blok. Class 101 explains the “what and why” of TNC. After the class, you will have an opportunity to join the church. Breakfast is provided, but childcare is not. For more information, call the TNC office at 803-279-1555.
Element Student Ministries
There will be no Element on Wednesday, November 24 because of the Thanksgiving weekend.
Chicks
Attention all CHICKS!!! Get ready for the Winter Retreat 2011. Join us this January 28-29, 2011 for Digging Deeper at the Augusta Marriott Hotel & Suites. Prices include a one-night stay, meals and the conference. Prices vary depending on number of roommates. Registration forms with more details are available at Guest Services or the TNC offices. Be sure to turn in your registration form with your $50 non-refundable deposit and roommate names. For more information, email chicks@truenorthchurch.com.
LIVE OUT
Perspectives Exposure
5 Days/10 Hours to Change Your Life! TNC is hosting “Perspectives Exposure”, a multi-church class on finding your place and purpose in God’s kingdom and how God wants you to be a part of making history. The last class will be Sunday from 6:00-8:00 PM at The Blok, November 21. There is no charge for the class, but there will be a workbook available for $15. For more details, check out the Facebook Event or email jdarms@gmail.com.
Angel Tree
This year will mark TNC’s 5th year of helping out children of incarcerated inmates and under-resourced North Augusta families. You can be a part of Angel Tree by picking up a name at the Angel Tree table on Sunday morning. Gifts need to be returned to the table by December 12th.
Still need more? Go to the TNC blog at www.tncblog.com. It’s is updated daily…..well almost daily. You can also check out the TrueNorth Facebook Page or www.truenorthchurch.com!
Have a great week!
TrueNorth Church
Our new series starts November 28th, “The Stars of Christmas,” in Journey Land. We will take a look at the people who starred in the actual Christmas story.
This four-week series will walk us through stories of some very EXTRAordinary people. Our first week we discuss “Mary Ordinary.” Who is Mary and what importance does she have in Jesus’ life…she is an EXTRAordinary person. Who was the angel that came to Mary?
Week two… we have the “Good News Band.” What did the Shepherds do when they heard the Good News of Jesus’ birth. Were they EXTRAordinary?
Week three…“The Wise Guys” show up and week four…“The King Sings.” All EXTRAordinary!
Bible Verse & Hand Motions: Start practicing with your children now.
“God loved the world so much that He gave His Son.” John 3:16
God…point to the sky – Loved…make a heart shape out of your fingers from both hands - the World…hands over head in the shape of the world-ball – So much…hug yourself – That He gave His Son…put your hands/arms together like you are rocking a baby – John…put hands together and open like a bible – 3:…put three fingers up and yell out loud 3 while putting your arm straight out in front of you – 16…put hands in a fist and lift up to the sky like you are doing a cheer.
This past Sunday we started our new series in Journey Land…”Stars of Christmas.” We talked about Mary – the mother of Jesus, an ordinary woman who did an Extraordinary thing.
I love sitting in small group with our children. I am always amazed at how much they are capable of learning. It doesn’t matter the age – 3, 4 or 5 years old, they all get something from the lesson. And I get even more…
This week we move to another “Star of Christmas” – we will hear extraordinary news that transformed the lives of a bunch of Shepherds.
Make sure your children are in Journey land as we learn that Jesus is the true Star of Christmas.
This Christmas you can make a difference in the lives of thousands! Check out how…
What does an Angel, a Shepherd and a King all have in common? That’s right, Jesus!
This week our Preschoolers learned to “Share the Good News.” The Shepherds were in the fields looking after their sheep. An angel came to them in the night. They were told of the birth of the messiah – Jesus.
Mark 16:15 (NLT) “And then He told them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.’”
Rapid Rewind: (a time to focus on our bible story)
1. What was today’s Key Concept written on the gift tag?
2. What was the name of the shepherds’ band?
3. Where did the angel say the shepherds would find Jesus?
4. What did the shepherds do after they saw baby Jesus?
5. How DOESN’T a candy cane remind us of Jesus?
This weeks Star of Christmas? The Shepherds…the ultimate Star – Jesus.
We are just a week away from the big day…Christmas. TrueNorth Church has a lot going on and Journey Land is right there waiting to love on our children.
This Sunday, December 19th we will have our regular services available, 8:30am, 10am, and 11:30am. We will finish up “The Star of Christmas.” This has been a fun way to learn about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I hope you have been sharing with your children each Sunday, they are learning so much in Journey Land.
Our Christmas services will be Thursday, December 23rd at 7 pm. Journey Land will start checking children in at 6:30. The children will join together in a pajama night. We will have milk and cookies and watch a christmas movie…they can bring blankets or pillow but please mark them with your child’s name.
Friday, December 24th, we will have three services, 2pm, 4pm and 6pm. Steve has reminded us to come early whatever service you are attending. As a reminder for Journey Land, we will check children in 30 minutes prior to service start. I can’t wait to be with the Children, they are going to be so excited.
If you have any questions please contact Nina Fiedler at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com or 803-279-1555.
Thank you and Merry Christmas
There are no words to say how grateful I am for those who helped in Journey Land in the Christmas Services. We had a blast! It by far was the best part of the season!
I hope each of you have been able to rest and share the Love of Jesus Christ with your family.
May you be blessed in this coming year!
Nina Fiedler
Is it going to be “Just Another Year” in Journey Land or better yet at TrueNorth Church? I would have to say NO I don’t think so.
I’m not sure that it has ever been just another year at TrueNorth Church. God has done so many amazing things. Things that I could share (way to long) and things I had no idea he did.
2011 will be another year to put in the History books. TrueNorth is on its way to having a home building. We have called North Augusta High School home for the past six years. What an amazing ride…I can’t believe it has been so long. It feels like only a few months ago that we started meeting at Hammond Hills Elementary School.
There are many plans for the future, God is guiding every step of the way. Most importantly he is guiding individuals and families closer to him. He is using TrueNorth as a way for people to come to him. What a blessing it is to be part of that plan. Why he has chosen each of us I don’t know, but he has. I personally don’t feel worthy of his gift.
The New Year has begun. People are still struggling and so many more need to know Jesus Christ. Just because the holidays are over doesn’t mean we shouldn’t continue being the hands and feet of Jesus. Every day needs be a holiday, every day we need to look out for the orphans and widows.
Continue to invest and invite friends and family to TrueNorth Church. Their lives will never be the same. Here they will find friendship – love – acceptance – peace – joy and of course, the best gift of all – Jesus Christ.
Wishing all of you the best New Year. If you don’t know Jesus Christ – I pray that you find out who he is and experience the love that he has for you. And if you do – I pray that you will be his light and share his love with others.
Nina Fiedler
Journey Land Director
I came across this Blog post the other day from Perry Noble, Senior Pastor of NewSpring Church in South Carolina. He has some amazing insight on his challenge with his weight.
When you think of weight problems you most likely think of adults. The fact of the matter is more and more young people are becoming over weight – if not obese.
Perry’s Doctor has given some astonishing statistics on children and the obesity problem. Take a look, I think you will enjoy the reading, if anything it will make you more aware.
Six Steps To Overcoming Obesity – Part One
Six Steps To Overcoming Obesity – Part Two
An Email From My Doctor About My Blog Posts On Obesity
Thanks Nina
Wondering what your children are doing each week in Journey Land? Check out our video…
Wonder what bible verse we are doing? Check out our video…
Wonder what bible story we are doing? Check out our video…
So last post you saw some of the materials your children are learning…here is what happens after they watch the video. It’s time to sit back with their small group leaders and unpack what they just learned.
You may think that 3, 4 and 5 year old’s don’t understand, but let me tell you otherwise. They are sponges, listening even while fooling around. They hear every word and process it.
So here is a glimpse into what is taught during small groups. It’s really cool and the kids respond so well. Oh, and as mush as they hear, they share it too! We love the stories and prayer requests they share with us…amazing stuff.
Small Groups
OPENING ACTIVITY - HOST -SONG - HOST-GOAL – HOST-BIBLE STORY – watch video then HOST will introduce small group time
We have some pictures from the Bible story we just watched, but they are out of order. Can you help me get them right?
Ask kids to tell you what is happening in each picture, and to help get them in the right order. Talk about the Bible story as you line them up correctly.
Have any of you ever seen the wind? Can you point to it and say, “there it is!” (Allow time for all kids to answer)
The truth is no one can see the wind. It is invisible. If the wind is blowing in the trees, you cannot see the wind. What do you actually see that lets you know the wind is there? (you can see the leaves and limbs of the tree moving, etc) Allow kids to answer.
Even though we cannot see the wind, we can see the things that move in the wind. In the same way, when our hands are moving and doing helpful things, others can see God’s love.
Just like the wind moves the leaves of the trees, God wants His love to move our hands to do helpful things for others. We can use our hands just like Timothy did, working hard to help Paul and the church.
MEMORY VERSE - HOST-DR. TOMORROW - HOST-SONG - HOST-SMALL GROUP ACTIVITY – HOST will introduce this time
Robots are supposed to help people. We are going to see some pictures of some robots and you are going to decide if the robots are helping the people in the picture or hurting the people in the picture. Some might be easy to tell the difference, but some might be tricky.
Show one picture at a time, asking if the robot is helping or hurting. Some of the pictures are intentionally designed so that it is hard to tell if the robot is helping or not. Allow kids to say if the robot in the picture is helping or hurting, and why.
Robots are programmed to help people because that is what their creators designed them to do. God is our creator, and He designed us to show others His love. One way God wants us to do that is by doing helpful things for others.
REVIEW – HOST-WRAP UP AND PRAYER – HOST-GAME
We are going to build a robot hand. Each of you will get to choose what robot fingers you want to add to your robot hand.
Your fingers and my fingers are all just about the same, but our robot fingers are designed to do some very unique things. Let’s see what they are.
What does this robot finger look like it does? Ask the kids about each of the fingers and describe the actions that they are capable of. The flashlight finger can shine a light so you can read of see in the dark, the phone finger can call friends and family. The laser pointer finger can help point out things that are far away, the tool finger can help fix things that are broken. The fan finger can blow a cool breeze to cool you down, the candle lighter finger can light all your birthday candles before the wax melts on the cake. The magnifying glass finger can help us to see small things and the GPS navigating finger points you in the right direction if you get lost.
Think about the types of actions you want your robot fingers to be able to do. Ok, let’s make our robot hand! (Glue the fingers each child chooses on the robot hand)
When hand is finished: All of the actions on the robot fingers are ones that can help people. When we do helpful things for others we are serving them and showing them God’s love.
When we treat people the way God wants us to, they might ask us why we are being so helpful, then we can tell them it is because we are showing them God’s love. Let’s write some actions on our robot hand page that we can do for people we love this week to show them God’s love. (Go around the circle and ask each child one way they can help someone else this week to show them God’s love.)
When the game is over, if you have time, please ask the kids how you can pray for them. Write requests in the binder. If they give general answers like “my dad,” dig deeper to get more specific answers from them.
Use your treat box to reward kids after service for memorizing the Bible verse or Goal. Rewards can also be used for good behavior, bringing a friend, correct answer, etc.
Game Time
On the move in Journey Land…dancing to the “Robot” song!
Stay in the loop in Journey Land.
Journey Land has approximately 100 volunteers – with a great desire for many more to join our team.
We are currently set up on a site that makes it easier for you, the volunteer, to stay connected. Check out our tutorial from “Planning Center.”
Scheduling made simple. Drop me a note if you have any questions, I hope you are already using this. If not…I hope you will now.
<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/1629500″>Volunteer Training</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/planningcenter”>Planning Center</a> on <a href=”http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>Nothing brings me more joy than seeing children with a smile on their faces.
How could you not love being in Journey Land when you see these two little one’s! Today we learned “God Loves Me.”
And tell me…who wouldn’t want to hang out with the 3′s, 4′s and 5 year olds in Journey Land – when you’re having fun learning to “listen to what God wants to tell us.”
What an amazing day. I just love these kids and volunteer’s, it’s so much fun. I love when I hear a child call my name and climb into my arms for comfort. And when you see children repeat after you “God Loves Me” – well there really isn’t much more to say!
ok…just a few more words. I am so grateful!
Love your friendly Journey Land Director,
Nina
When we think of Journey land we think of Sunday mornings at TrueNorth Church. Bringing our little-ones in and seeing our 3-5 year old’s learn about Jesus.
We expect that things should look nice and bright and in order. Screens set up – check in/out ready to go. And of course, people in place and smiles on our their faces.
But have you ever thought of what it takes to get to Sunday mornings. It’s not like we walk in and everything is there ready for us. It didn’t just drop from the sky and poof-Journey Land in a Cafeteria.
So let’s take a BRIEF look at a regular/not so regular week in the life of the Journey Land staff/volunteer leaders who make this amazing thing happen. Let me just say that if I put everything on this Blog it would be over 20 pages long. So I am going to hit some key points.
Production-Clubhouse-Curriculum-(3-5) Daphne Brown/Director
First Impressions – Check in/out – Volunteers – (Infants thru Kindergarten) – Holly Roberts/Director
There are hours spent in meetings brainstorming, vision casting, training and leadership building so that we/us can make Sunday morning the best experience for children and their families.
Let’s face it, if Journey Land didn’t exist then parents couldn’t go to church. And less and less people would have the opportunity to know their Lord and Savior-Jesus Christ. That’s why we are doing this right? Yes…and if there is any other reason we need to check ourselves.
There are many other people who are key in this process of Journey Land. I only mentioned two-they are my arms and legs. Without them and their heart for Jesus Christ and love for our children – I truly don’t know where we would be in Journey Land. But…it takes 100′s of others to make Sunday mornings happen.
Thank you volunteers…thank you leaders…thank you to all those who put hours and hours in preparing for Sunday mornings. I love you dearly, I hope and pray that you know how valuable and appreciated you are. God is good all the time. Amen
Nina Fiedler-Director of Journey Land
I absolutely love Perry Noble. He is so straight forward…with the focus completely and honestly on Jesus Christ. Personally I am not the kind of person to fool around with emotions…just say it so we can move forward and solve the issue. Then I don’t have to wonder what you are thinking and spend days and possibly months running around the issue. It’s a waste of time for all of us and not what Jesus wants us to do.
In Perry’s latest Blog post he talks about being on Staff at a church and some questions you should ask yourself. I think these questions can be for staff/volunteers or those who are not in ministry.
Check it out…
Seven Gut Check Questions For Staff Members – (volunteers too)
Posted: 26 Jan 2011 04:27 AM PST
I shared these questions with our staff here at NewSpring Church in last weeks staff meeting and thought it might be helpful if I shared them here on my website.
#1 – Would I attend this church if I were not on staff? If the answer is “no” then you should resign…immediately. God hasn’t called people in the ministry to work with a half-hearted effort…and if you don’t believe in the vision/mission of your church enough to say that you would be there if they were not paying you then I am afraid your hearts isn’t there anyway.
#2 – Would I volunteer in the area I am working in if I were not on staff? This question speaks to motive…if you would not volunteer to do the job you are being paid to do then, once again, you’ve got to ask if your heart is really there. (If you do not LOVE what you do then you are not going to be able to do what Scripture commands in Philippians 2:14 and Colossians 3:23-24).
#3 – Do I feel entitled? There is nothing worse than a staff member (including a senior pastor) who has an entitlement mentality. These people believe the church has latched on to them and would sink if they were to leave (which is never the case.) Reality is the church doesn’t owe anyone…she’s God’s Bride and we (volunteers and staff) are the ones who latched on to her in regards to our gifts being pulled out of us and developed for HIS Kingdom.
#4 – Am I a tither? If you are not tithing and giving generously to your church…your heart isn’t there. Don’t argue with me…JESUS said it! (Matthew 6:21) Also…how in the world can someone who claims to have integrity work on a church and spent the tithe money of other people when they are not actually giving any themselves?
#5 – How clean is my office/work area? The answer to this question determines how well a person is willing to steward the resources that God allows them to use…AND how they feel about the church as a whole. (And…a staff member CAN and should be held accountable for this.)
#6 – How much do I complain about my job? A staff member who is always complaining most likely is not operating in their area of gifting. I’ve told my staff, “I KNOW your job is hard…it’s ministry, we’re on the front lines. A marine on the front lines in a way is never surprised when someone shoots at him…he doesn’t begin to whine and tell people how hard his job is. Ministry is, hands down, the hardest job you will EVER have!
#7 – Am I concerned about my particular area/team…OR about the church as a whole? Staff members need to be willing to have uncomfortable conversations with people if they ever perceive something to be “off mission”…even if it is not in their direct area of responsibility. A staff is a team…and everything impacts everything else. Staff members who fail to realize this will eventually create silos that actually begin to compete with other departments on staff rather than partnering with other staff members to kick satan in his cookies and advance God’s Kingdom!
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| lift up love in live out | |||||
Many of you are aware that we are praying, preparing and finalizing details for our upcoming AWAKENING GIVING CAMPAIGN beginning February 20 – March 20. You will be hearing lots more about it the next few weeks. However, God’s not waiting until February 20 for Spiritual Awakening in the life of our church! Many are convinced that it’s already occurring!
If you were in attendance last Sunday at TNC, you know what I’m talking about as we kicked off a 3 week series for women called WONDER WOMEN. The power and presence of God was unbelievable in all three services as we worshipped and saw the power of HOPE and RESTORATION that the prostitute Rahab experienced through our great God! There wasn’t a dry eye in the place and hearts were touched and changed!!! Our last 2 services were standing room only and we had a RECORD ATTENDANCE (non-holiday) of over 1,700 people on campus!!!!
After I finished the message in the 3rd service, I stood back stage for the closing response song and I was overwhelmed by the worship and the presence of God! He spoke to my spirit in such a clear way about His work in the lives of our people, and told me to get ready because MANY MORE LIVES are preparing to be changed. Those of you that know me well, know that I’m not one to hype these kind of experiences. However, I’m certain of this experience and believe that life change, growth and awakening that we’ve never seen before at TNC are coming!!!
I’m not the only one that sensed this. Our Associate Pastor, Gene Jennings, was outside the auditorium at the end of the 3rd service tending to a need at approximately the same time. He said he was moved deeply in His Spirit by the worship as well, even though he wasn’t even in the building. My oldest daughter, Kayla, was leaving after the 3rd service and turned to my wife, Cheryl, and said, “I think we are having an awakening before the awakening!”
TNC, I say this without reservation, “God is moving on our church in some fresh and powerful ways!” Are you ready for AWAKENING in your life? I know many of our ladies are expecting an encounter with God as they attend our CHICKS WINTER RETREAT tonight and tomorrow (Saturday). Please be in prayer for them as they gather in downtown Augusta at the Marriott Hotel & Suites.
Before I go, let me ask again. Two of the last three Sundays, we’ve set attendance records at TNC! The crowds have been enormous in our 2nd & 3rd services, with many NEW PEOPLE coming! It’s exciting! However, they won’t keep coming if they don’t have a place to sit. WE really need MANY MORE of our TNC FAMILY/REGULAR ATTENDERS to move to our 8:30 am service. We have MANY, MANY EMPTY SEATS available at 8:30!! If we could get 100-150 people to move to our 8:30 service, we can handle the crowds. Journey Land and KidzStuff are ready for your kids at 8:30!!! Let me remind you that by moving services you are opening up your seat in our most popular service times so that PEOPLE WHO DON’T KNOW JESUS, CAN COME TO MEET HIM at TNC!!! THAT IS HUGE!!! Please prayerfully consider this option and let’s not stop this special movement of God on our church! By the way, anybody think we need a building??
I love you, TNC, and I love what God is doing! Sunday is going to be another powerful day as we consider the source of ESTHER’S COURAGEOUS FAITH. You don’t want to miss it!!! It all starts at 8:30 am!!!
See you Sunday!
Steve
Over the past few months things at TrueNorth Church have been pop-pin! Have you felt it? Have you seen it? If not then now’s the time to get involved. It’s going to take all of us…with God’s leadership to reach the un-reached.
Over the next few weeks you will hear more and more about “The Spiritual Awakening” in the life of our church. (February 20th) But I’m here to tell you God is already doing an “Awakening” before the “Awakening.” Lives are being changed, they are being transformed. I am honored and blessed to call TrueNorth Church my home.
There are many opportunities for you to be the hands and feet of Jesus on campus each Sunday morning. As more and more people come the opportunities are growing. The past two weeks in Journey Land alone we had 300 children walk through our doors. I don’t know about you – but that totally excites me.
It means that God is doing a work in people. He is opening the hearts of those who need to know Him. And they are ready, we need to be ready for them.
Are you ready to make a difference in someone’s life? Are you ready to step up and get involved so that more and more people can know Jesus Christ. It doesn’t mean you have to serve in Journey Land, yes…do we want those who are passionate about children, of course. But there are so many other places you can serve. (TrueNorth Church-Volunteers)
We are one body…joining together to grow our team. A team of people who will join us in heaven. Who will come to know their heavenly father. What is more important than that? I don’t know about you…but I say NOTHING!
So invite your friends and families to TrueNorth Church. Come and See what a difference Jesus Christ can make in your life and the life of those around you.
Did I mention how excited I am about the “Awakening” at TrueNorth Church? Hope to see you Sunday at one of our three services…8:30-10:00 and 11:30 am.
Nina Fiedler-Director Journey Land
Every time I see our kids in Journey Land on Sunday mornings my heart goes pitter-patter! Oh how I get so much joy watching our children.
Today was another amazing day. The kids have the bible verse down..”Love God with all your heart, soul and mind. Matt. 22:37.
Each week there is something special that stands out. This week it was watching them pray. I have a video for you to check out. I know parents wonder what their kids are doing while the adults are in big church. Here a little clip.
I love to share things going on in the lives of our Journey Land children. Sean, a wonderful little boy, has been attending Journey Land the past year and a half. He is partnered with one of our amazing Kidzpartners, Will Harper. (TrueNorth Church)
Will has literally fallen in love with Sean and his family…just like the rest of us in Journey Land. But Will has taken it even further. He volunteers in Sean’s classroom on a regular basis and shares in some special events, like a trip to Disney.
I would say that Sean’s parents also see Will as an addition to their family. They share pictures with him and plan their Sunday morning so that Sean and Will can be with each other in Journey Land.
I can’t tell you how much this personally means to me. As a leader in Journey Land I see God doing amazing things in the lives of each family. The relationship is being molded right now. I believe that this relationship will be one of a life time. You can not put a price tag on this one!
Here are a few pictures from Sean’s trip with his family to Disney this past month. I want to remind you that Sean is Autistic. I only share this to say - there has been amazing progress.
If you know anything about Autism, you know that some do not like being touched. It can put a child into a tizzy quickly. But with the amazing love of his family, the teachers at his school and the love and dedication of Will Harper, Sean is able to touch Buzz Light Year without fear! He has a huge smile on his face in several of these pictures. An expression that brings tears of joy to my eyes.
This is what Journey Land is about. Don’t deny the impact we have on the lives of our children. More importantly…don’t deny the impact they have on ours.
Thank you Jesus for reminding me why I do what I do, It’s the joy of seeing a child smile! I love you Jesus…
Oh, and thank you Sean, for being you. Perfectly made in the eyes of Jesus Christ. (And my eyes too!)
Nina Fiedler
Journey Land Director
“Love God with all your heart and soul and mind”
Matthew 22:37
If you were trying to catch a fish would you put something on the hook that the fish didn’t like to eat?
That is what Satan does when he tempts us. He tries to make the temptation look good, but really it is a hook! Satan knows that sin is what keeps us away from God. That is why he is always trying to get everyone to sin more and more. He even tempted Jesus to try to get him to sin.
We don’t have to be alone in the desert like Jesus was, to be tempted. We can be tempted anywhere. When temptation comes it always seems like it will be ok because Satan works to make it look good. But if we keep God’s Word in our minds, like Jesus did, we can learn to see what is really good and what is just bait on a hook.
None of us can be perfect like Jesus, but keeping our minds on the Bible will help us avoid getting in trouble.
WOW! What an amazing week in Journey Land. Things are growing by leaps and bounds. We had over 170 children last Sunday in Journey Land. Can you say “Praise God.”
We are so encouraged by the lessons in Journey Land. The children are so amazing, they are learning their bible lessons, their bible verses and taking it home to share with friends and family. Who said a 3-year-old couldn’t learn about Jesus Christ? Not me!
So far we have learned to love God and love others , to follow God and make good choices, to help others to show them God’s love, to take time to listen to God , to use nice words with others , to see people the way God sees them and to put godly things in our minds.
This week we are talking about how much we need to help each other and work together as a church. And to help us remember, we’re going to say our Goal: WORK WITH OTHERS AT CHURCH.
It’s interesting to me that just as we start our “Awakening” series our children are learning how to “work with others at church.” Our God is amazing…He’s doing a work in our children, building a foundation that will last a life time.
This Sunday, February 20th will be the unveiling of our building. Make sure you come to one of our three services. You don’t want to miss it.
One last thing. if you are interesting in getting involved with Journey Land on a volunteer basis we are having Huddle-Time this Saturday, February 19th at the Blok. (1297 W. Martintown Road) 10am – 11:30 ages 3 years – 5 years old, Safety team and First Impressions. Then at 11:30am – 1:00pm ages infants – 2 years old. Come join us – for more information contact Nina Fiedler at ninaf@truenorthchurch or 803-279-1555. (child care not provided)
Hope to see you this week-end!
Nina
It’s happening! What’s happening? Everything!
What an AWESOME day at TrueNorth Church – Journey Land, God is at work.
Once again, I was brought to tears in our “Awakening” services and seeing the future TrueNorth Church, well let’s just say AWESOME one more time. I am in awe that we stand at this turning point in our church. I’m ready!
The one thing that has stayed with me from Pastor Steve’s message is that “the people are the church, the building is the means to bringing more people to Jesus Christ.” I think that’s important to remember – it’s a building, we are the Church. But through our faith - God is going to do amazing things. He already has.
Then of course, Journey Land. What an amazing day. We had an abundance of children, Praise God. I’m always astonished at what continues to happen in our Preschool ministry.
But I have to say, what caught my attention this week, once again, was our volunteer’s. Earlier this week I put a shout out for any extra hands that may be available – and to be honest, I forgot about it. But ya know what, our church body didn’t. As I stood at our check in area people continually came up and asked where they could help out.
Now to some this may not be a big deal, but when you have 160 children it is a huge deal. We had an abundance of volunteers to go with our abundance of children. I can’t say thank you enough!
And to top the day off…I had a Small Group Leader from our 4-year-old group call me over. These are her words, I’m telling you – God is doing amazing things at TrueNorth Church – Journey Land.
“Today in Small Group we were talking about how we can use the different parts of our body to help the church. When I asked the kids how we use our eyes most of them said “we can see our friends.” But when I asked Tyson he said “we use our eyes to see others the way Jesus sees them”
WOW! Tyson got it! To see others the way Jesus sees us. As a small group leader being part of that is amazing! It took me back, brought me to tears and left me amazed at how awesome god is. It confirmed that what I do is important and our kids are getting it! (Erin Wicker-SGL)
Check it out…re-post everywhere! TRUENORTH CHURCH…
This Sunday in Journey Land we will finish up with our series Dr. Tomorrow’s Robot Repair Shop. And to end it we will go out with a bang! It’s Game day!
Review = FUN!
Memory Verse: “Love God with all your heart and soul and mind”
Matthew 22:37
Here’s a glimpse of what’s to come…we start Entourage Jr. March 6th. It’s going to be so much FUN learning about Jesus! Share these songs with your child.
According to my prayer guide it’s day 6 – TrueNorth style. Are you checking out your 21 day prayer guide for Awakening? I sure hope so – we need to cover our church in prayer. Big things are happening and I’m sure the enemy doesn’t want it to.
Take a minute to look at Revelations 7: 9-12 – An amazing glimpse at what worship in heaven will be like.
Here are some Prayer points: Take a moment to be with God…
Hoping you are having an amazing day!
Nina
“We believe that Jesus died and rose again”
1 Thessalonians 4:14
This week in Journey Land the Children will learn to “Tell others about Jesus.”
DESCRIPTION
The children will decorate a paper then roll
it into a tube. They can use the tube to tell
others about Jesus.
A glimpse at what the children will learn in Small Group this Sunday! It’s so much fun learning about Jesus.
I want everyone to hold up their tube and whisper, “Jesus loves you” into the tube. Now, turn to the person next to you and whisper, “Jesus loves you” to them. Turn your tube away from the person next to you, and let’s all say that as loud as you can in our tubes.
Great! Now, let’s use our tubes to say what we are learning today. I Tell Others About Jesus.
SUMMARY
That was fun using our whisper tubes to tell each other about Jesus. You have had time to practice telling people about Jesus in our class today. Now, you can go out and “tell others about Jesus.”
Journey Land Clubhouse News
Offering
Beginning March 6, we will start taking Offering in Clubhouse. This is a time to teach the kids about how everything we own belongs to God, and we can say “thanks” by giving something back to Him.
During this time of AWAKENING in our church, it will take all of us (even 3, 4, and 5 year olds) to usher TNC into the next phase. We encourage you to participate in this first step in teaching your kids to give back to God.
Memory Verse
The memory verse will be learning from March 6 through May 8 is:
“We believe Jesus died and rose again”
1 Thessalonians 4:14
Precious Time
We consider every second we have with your children as precious time. Because we try to take advantage of every moment your kids are in Journey Land, we ask that you please take your children to the bathroom prior to check in.
Join the Team
If you are interested in being a part of guiding children’s first steps on the journey to loving God, contact Nina Fiedler at 803-279-1555 or ninaf@truenorthchurch.com
WHAT WE’RE LEARNING
For the next two months, we’ll be using Elevate’s Entourage, Jr. We’ll follow Movie Star and the gang as they learn how to be followers of Jesus. Here’s our schedule:
March 6
Main Point: I tell others about Jesus
Bible Story: John the Baptist (Luke 3:1-22)
March 13
Main Point: I will do what Jesus says
Bible Story: the disciples do what Jesus says (Matthew 4:18-22, 10:5-20, 21:1-7)
March 20
Main Point: I should learn about Jesus
Bible Story: Mary learns from Jesus (Luke 10:38-42)
March 27
Main Point: I thank Jesus
Bible Story: Jesus heals 10 lepers (Luke 17:11-19)
April 3
Main Point: I can be a friend like Jesus
Bible Story: Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10; John 15:14)
April 10
Main Point: I worship Jesus
Bible Story: Birth of Jesus (Shepherds, Wise men – Luke 2:1-21, Matthew 2:1-12)
April 17
Main Point: Jesus will forgive me
Bible Story: Peter denies Jesus, Jesus forgives him (John 18-21)
April 24
EASTER CELEBRATION!!!
May 1
Main Point: I should show love
Bible Story: Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25:31-46)
May 8
Review GAME Day
I love this time of year…it’s so crazy busy. That means we are in the planning stages of putting on another fabulous baby dedication. I love our babies, and it seems that we have lot’s of them at TrueNorth Church!
As I mentioned, we are in the planning stages. At this point I know a few things, they are as follows:
You may have noticed that we are having two scheduled for the 2011 calendar. This is due to the amount of growth TrueNorth has experienced, now that’s exciting!
This is a very special time for families and we want to help make it that special day for you.
At this time please mark your calendars. In the near future I will provide you with more specific details for the event.
Looking forward to seeing you and our TNC babies…
If you have any questions you can contact me at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com or 803-279-1555
Thank you,
Nina Fiedler
Journey land Director/TNC
AWAKENING UPDATE
TrueNorth Church
Trying to keep up with all of the Awakening excitement?? Here is a list of all the Awakening Events coming up….
THIS SUNDAY – March 13
Commitment Sunday…Bring your 3-year Commitment Card and drop it in the offering or by Guest Services.
Saturday, March 19
Day of Prayer…Join us at The Blok, any time from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm, to pray for the Awakening Campaign, Element 180 Weekend, and TrueNorth Church. You can pray during a 30-minute block using prayer guides that will be available. Sign up at Guest Services or email katiec@truenorthchurch.com.
Sunday, March 20
Slam Dunk’d Sunday…You don’t want to miss this Sunday! In addition to our regular amazing Sunday services, we will be celebrating Dunk’d with those deciding to be baptized AND we will be receiving our first Awakening Offering (First Fruits offering)!
Sunday, March 27
Celebration Sunday…Stories of God working miracles in peoples’ lives, videos, offering totals, and, of course, celebrating – need we say more??!!
For more details, you can check out www.tncblog.com, our FACEBOOK page, or email info@truenorthchurch.com.
See you Sunday!
TrueNorth Church
A look back at our Journey Land children this past Sunday. Learning hard about Jesus!
3 year olds: Erin
3 year olds: Hayley
4 year olds: Amy
4 year olds: Robbie
5 year olds: Angela
5 year olds: Carrie
The question is this…”do you know what Ridgeview Manor is?” If not, let me share.
The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.
–John 1:14 (The Message)
Jesus’ neighborhood was a rural, agricultural society in first century Palestine. Our neighborhood is the CSRA with a laser-like focus on an eighty-eight unit apartment complex in twenty-first century North Augusta, SC.
Jesus came to us and met us where we were. This year’s Hip-Hop Easter Eggstravaganza is another opportunity for the people of TrueNorth to continue to meet the people of Ridgeview Manor right where they are.
If Jesus was here today, I fully believe He would do exactly what He did then–immerse Himself in the culture and hang out with real people in the real world. Adopt-a-Block is just that–an opportunity for us to be insolated, not isolated while showing the love of Christ to people who may be far from Him.
We will hold our annual Easter Egg Hunt on April 16th, 2011 from 10-2pm at Ridgeview Manor off of Bradleyville Road in North Augusta. (Rain date: April 23rd, 2011) We are collecting CANDY for the event again this year. If you would like to make donations please drop them off on Sunday mornings at Journey Land, Kidzstuff or Guest Services.
You can also drop them off at our church office (the Blok) located at 1297 W. Martintown Road in North Augusta.
Last year we collect over 4,500 eggs and 150 lbs of CANDY…let’s rock it out this year and double it!
Thank you,
Nina Fiedler (ninaf@truenorthchurch.com)
(last year we collected eggs & candy…this year we are focusing on CANDY only)
Our Easter Eggstravaganza is just around the corner, April 16th to be exact from 10-2pm @Ridgeview Manor. We have lot’s of planning going on around here at the TNC offices.
So ya wanted get in and help? Your just in time then, go here and register for an area you want to get involved with. We would love to have you, there is lot’s to do and many to serve. Come get on board now!
Check out my previous blog for more details…and find out who and what Ridgeview Manor is.
Let’s hop on outta here!
It’s been a few weeks since I have had the opportunity to post. Let’s just say it’s been an extended Spring Break. But that doesn’t mean things haven’t been happening in Journey Land. Just the opposite actually, things are exploding.
This last series we changed things up a bit. One of the things that changed was the 3, 4 and 5 year old’s bring their tithes with them to “Clubhouse” instead of dropping it off at check-in.
Well, let’s just say this was a huge success. The children love it! They can’t wait until the bucket comes around and they can put their money in it. The first time I heard the coins hit the bottom of the bucket it almost made me cry. 3, 4 and 5 years old’s bringing their money to God-WOW!
If you think it’s just a penny here or a quarter there…you are mistaken. Our children and their families really think about what they are bringing each week. Isn’t that the lesson, that we would take time out to pray and think about our offering to God. It sure is.
I am proud, so proud of our children. But I am also proud of our volunteers, parents and leaders who participate in making this happen. What an amazing generation we are raising!
TrueNorth Church – Eggstravaganza – Ridgeview Manor
Tonight was the finalizing of our Eggstravaganza for our Adopt-A-Block at Ridgview manor. Saturday, April 16th from 10am-2pm we will have an Egg Hunt, blow-up, face painting, crafts, food and more. It’s going to be an amazing time.
We have done this event for the past few years and it is always fun and exciting. Tonight was just another one of those moments, when you get with friends and family and enjoy sitting around stuffing candy into bags.
Once our work was done we spent time hanging out eating pizza and drinking soda. I really enjoy talking with everyone, we weren’t rushed to be some other place or get something else done. It all just kinda flowed.
Thank you everyone for a very enjoyable evening…I truly enjoyed your company.
Due to the weather we unfortunately have to cancel the Eggstravaganza at Ridgeview Manor for this morning.
However, don’t fret, we have rescheduled for next Saturday, April 23rd 2011 from 10am-2pm.
Remember, God is good and His plans are always better than ours. I’m looking forward to next Saturday. Continue to Pray.
Nina
Please complete Registration form here.
Get your serve on this Summer in Journey Land or Kidzstuff at TrueNorth Church.
Summer Serve opens the doors for you to do just that – SERVE! As you make your plans this season, please consider the unique opportunities available to serve Christ by serving His kids throughout the summer. Being a part of bringing the love and truth of Jesus Christ to children is PRICELESS!
This can be a short-term commitment (May-August). You can volunteer each week during the summer, every other week or once a month. Whatever works with your schedule.
We ask that you come with the Passion, Attitude, Teamwork and Honor (P.A.T.H) to serve our little ones.
Invite your friends to join you and let’s make this the best Summer Serve at TNC. Our kids deserve it!
For more information please contact Nina Fiedler at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com or Sheila Mendell at sheilam@truenorthchurch.com 803-279-1555
Journey Land (ages: 6 wks-Kindergarten) or Kidzstuff (ages: 1st – 5th grade)
Check it out, this Sunday May 15th we will start a new series in Clubhouse. Here are 2 songs our children will learn. They are fun and exciting, have some fun with your kids and find out what they are learning.
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See you Sunday!
Nina
Children Need to Know God Loves Them
by Rick Warren
“You (God) created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created.” Revelation 4:11b (NLT)
Out of all the conversations parents need to have with their children, one of the first and most important is telling children that God created them and loves them.
Until our children understand that they were made by God and for his pleasure, life will not make sense. Isaiah 44 tells us, “I (God) am your creator. You were in my care even before you were born” (Isaiah 44:2 CEV). Children need to know that God thought them up. They were not an accident. They may not have been planned, but they were not an accident because God knew them and loved them from conception.
Now, no parent is perfect. They can have their good days and bad days. But God does not. His love is not based on his mood. He doesn’t love us one day and dislike us the next because his love is unchanging – that’s his character. It has nothing to do with who we are or what we do. We can’t make God stop loving us. He created us and made us to love us.
Our children need to understand this. And then we need to talk to them about how we respond to this love because God also gave us the capacity to love him back It is called worship. So we need to talk to our children about this key issue – what will be the center of my life?
Whatever is at the center of your life is what you worship. As children grow up, they can center their life on what other people think (peer pressure), sports, school, family, career, having fun, money, or collecting things. And there’s nothing wrong with any of those things. God created all of them for our enjoyment. They just don’t belong at the center of your life because they don’t last.
If you center your life on you career, it can go away. If you center your life on money, you can lose it. If you center your life on your appearance or health, they can fail. All of these things can disappear and you’re left growing up with insecurity. But a life centered on God is solid because God cannot be taken away from you.
So a parent’s primary responsibility is to teach their children to love God. It is the first critical choice a child has to learn because it is a choice they will be faced with over and over at every stage in their life. Will they choose to live a self-centered life or a God-centered life?
When our children understand that they were created by God to be loved by him, and they choose to put God at the center of their lives, they will be able to stand strong against any challenge that comes their way.
Pastor Rick is leading us through a series on parenting right now, and we thought you’d be interested in this new curriculum at Saddleback Resources: Raising Your Kids without Raising Your Blood Pressure.
There is never a dull moment in ministry – especially Preschool ministry. Journey Land at TrueNorth Church is no different.
This week during services we had an amazing opportunity to explore our “Evacuation” procedures. (I think I get bragging rights.)
Now, for those who aren’t familiar with our ministry, Journey Land/TrueNorth Church is portable – so that means our Preschool ministry meets in a high school cafeteria. Children infant thru kindergarten come through our doors each week.
This week the fire alarm went off in 1st service, 8:30 am. Now that’s a wake up call! Everyone got into the proper format and out we went. The all clear was given and we returned to our normal scheduling.
2nd service went without a catch and then came 3rd service…yep! Let me just say, it was just a little loud – over and over again. But once again, it all went as planned. Praise God. Basically, there was an issue with the alarm in the school, it continually went off. Hopefully they have it fix this morning for regular school set up.
I truly have to brag on our volunteers – our team! If it wasn’t for the dedication, care, commitment and love from our volunteers the day could have been a huge mess. Everyone stepped up to the plate, the job was done, the children were safe and through it all I think we learned a lesson or two about Jesus Christ.
I can not thank each of you enough. From the moment we stepped into Journey land Sunday morning to the time we locked the doors – you made it happen.
Parents entrust us with their children. They trust that in moments just like this we will continue to love on their children and keep them safe. I am honored and blessed to serve with such unselfish people. I truly love what I do and love doing it with you. Thank you…
And to the parents, your just amazing. Thank you very much for allowing us to love such beautiful children.
Love my JOB,
Nina Brophy-Fiedler
Journey Land Director-TrueNorth Church
I would like to say that I have kept the last post up as long as I have because of its importance. Although it is important – that’s not the reason.
TrueNorth Church/Journey Land hasn’t taken a break for the summer…we are as dedicated now as we are every other season.
Just a few reminders…
Volunteer Appreciation is Sunday June 12th at the Y in Augusta.
Water/Fun Day in Journey Land us June 26th. Toddler/2′s will participate in games and a jump house. Please dress children in cool play cloths. They might get messy.
3 year olds to 5 year old will have water day. Dress your child for fun outside. They will need sun screen applied prior to arrival in Journey Land please. Water shoes and a towel will make outside much more enjoyable for them. Label all items.
Summer Serve is in full swing. Volunteer in Journey Land for the summer, you make your schedule.
For more information or questions please contact me at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com.
Thank you,
Nina
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As we arrive at the halfway point of summer, let me update you concerning AWAKENING. Most of you are aware that in Feb-March of 2011, TNC embarked on its first CAPITAL STEWARDSHIP CAMPAIGN entitled, AWAKENING. Our desire was to bring spiritual and financial AWAKENING in the hearts of our people as we shared the vision to build our first facility on our property (16 acres) on Martintown Rd. just off Exit 1. (Check out the INCREDIBLE TNC VISION VIDEO HERE )
During AWAKENING, we experienced an unbelievable move of God in our services! Many people came to Christ, miracles occurred, attendance increased, and people responded with a GENEROSITY to the vision that we’ve never seen before at TrueNorth Church. Over the course of AWAKENING, our people committed over 3 million dollars for 3 years to this vision, over $500,000 above our goal of $2.5 million!!!!
As a result of your generosity and faithfulness to AWAKENING, we positioned ourselves to secure a loan with a bank this summer. Our leadership (particularly Jay Knotts & Gene Jennings), has been tediously working behind the scenes with banks to make this happen. We are excited to share that we believe we are very close to finalizing a loan very soon!!!! When this happens, it will allow us to draw up a calendar schedule with the
architects and construction folks on a date for breaking ground late this fall.
These are INDEED EXCITING TIMES in the life and ministry of TRUENORTH CHURCH!!! We need you to do TWO things continually as we move forward in AWAKENING.
First and foremost, PLEASE PRAY for God’s will in our church and for God’s favor! Over and over through the years, we have reminded you that this isn’t our church, it’s GOD’S. We want HIS WILL MORE THAN ANYTHING else. Scripture reminds us, “unless the Lord builds the house, it’s laborers build in vain” (Ps. 127:1). We believe our desire to seek His will first has been a great reason why we’ve seen HIS FAVOR the past 7 years!!! Please pray for our leaders, our people, the loan process and for the many who still need to hear the GOSPEL in the CSRA!!!!
Second, please continue to be faithful in your financial commitments to AWAKENING and TNC. Your monthly generosity puts reality to our prayers as we talk to the bank. We must continue to be GENEROUS if this VISION is to be a reality. If you haven’t made a commitment to AWAKENING and would like to start, please do so. You can turn in an envelope with your name on it, label it AWAKENING and it will go directly to the VISION, or you can go online @ truenorthchurch.com and give to AWAKENING online.
Thanks again for letting me share my heart with you TNC. It truly is a joy to serve our GREAT GOD in this wonderful community of faith called TrueNorth! I can’t wait to see you Sunday as the ROAD TRIP in Matthew 5 continues!
I Love You,
Steve Davis, Lead Pastor
Today begins a week-long Student retreat for our Element kids. It’s going to be a time of -LOT’s- of fun and much-needed time with God.
Our students at TrueNorth Church are absolutely amazing. On any given day you can find them at the church office preparing for Element or our Sunday morning services. They also participate in every other event that TNC is involved with. 
I had the opportunity to travel the beginning of the month with several students to Guatemala. What an amazing bunch. I am so excited about the future we have with the generation of students that is coming up. WOW! Watch out world…they are making a difference.
So as much as they give, this week is about building them up. We adults think we have a lot on our plates, thing about what they have on theirs. They keep on going – energizer bunnies.
Pray for our leaders at “Deeper.” Pray for our “Student’s” at Deeper, that God will fill them with His love and joy. That they will receive the much-needed Word of God. And for those who may have gone and do not know or have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, that by the time they leave – they will.
I stand in awe of our students. I am honored and blessed to be a mother of two and am in ministry with many others. Love them all!
Pray…
With much Love,
Nina
Baby dedication is this Sunday, September 11th, 2011. I am Extending the registration until tomorrow – Wednesday, September 7th, 2011.
There are openings for families to register. If your name does not end with the required letters N-Z and you would like to participate please contact me right away. There is availability for others to join us.
Please contact me at 803-279-1555 or Ninaf@truenorthchurch.com. I’m looking forward to a wonderful time in celebrating this special occasion.
Thank you,
Nina
Please complete Registration form here.
