Kids Small Groups

Muraho, to our All STARS Rwanda 2010 Friends & Family -

We have completed our FULL day of ministry and it was absolutely incredible. We started the morning at the PEACE Plan Offices where we met with Pastor Straton, Jean-Pierre, Eric & Zelda. What a blessing this team and their fellow teammates are to the country of Rwanda. We are so very thankful for them, their friendship, and their support in making these two weeks possible.

The afternoon was then filled with ministry to children's ministry leaders. There were more than 40 leaders in attendance, eager to learn about how to minister to the children of their church. They were led in the morning by the Christ Gospel Fellowship Children's Ministry team to first understand the importance of children--see them as Jesus sees them. Then our team expanded on the training/teaching as we introduced the 5 purposes and then specifically Worship & Belong. Both teams did an incredible job teaching and it was inspiring to see how all 24 team members got involved to be a model of God's love and light in Children's Ministry.

Tomorrow we will be completing our Children's Minisry Training as we cover the remaining 5 purposes - Grow, Serve & Share (Bring & Go). As we plan for tomorrow, here are some additional prayer requests:
~ The "Grow" Team of the Wheelers
~ The "Serve" Team of the Ruizs
~ The "Share" Team of the Brases
~ Our visit in the early afternoon to a genocide memorial; may hearts be broken for what breaks God's; may our eyes be opened to what God wants us to see and know.
~ Evening teaching at Bible Study service

Looking forward to updating you all again soon!

We have ARRIVED. After a LONG journey - 10 hour flight from LAX to Heathrow, 12 hour layover in London, 8 hours from London to Nairobi and then the final hour and a half to Kigali - WE ARE HERE!

We truly felt your prayers today. Despite the arduous journey (even sleeping in a park outside the "Eye" in London) we moved right into a FULL day to hit the ground running. There was lots of napping in the car and yawning, but we made it through the day with more than enough energy because of you and your prayers.

Here's a quick snapshot of the day:
* Arrived at Kigali International Airport @ 8:30 AM
* Picked up 44 of our 48 checked bags (read on under prayer requests)
* Met Dorothy & our driver Julius to check-in to our guest house and get cleaned up before lunch @ the New Cactus (lots of delicious pizza to be had by all).
* Showed incredible flexibility and energy as we ran a children's afternoon service for 3 hours...it was AMAZING!!!
* Finished up the night with picking up a few team supplies and dining together @ Chez Robert.

Everyone is SO ready for bed as evidenced by the constant nodding off in the bus. But, before we hit the hay we would ask for your specific prayers to be lifted up above and beyond what was outlined in the prayer guide. Here they are:
~ The missing 4 bags to show up ASAP (3 soccer equipment/supply bags and 1 of Jennifer Brase's)
~ The first afternoon of the children's ministry leader training in Kimironko. We are expecting about 40 leaders and the team members to kick-off the teaching tomorrow are Jeremy & Liza (Intro); Will, Jessica, Victoria, Kris & Ray (Worship) and Linas, Cassandra, & Ariel (Belong)
~ Tired heads to hit the pillows quickly and be FULLY rested and adjusted to the time change. With that, of course, health...so far so good and we want to keep that going.

We will keep you posted as the day's of ministry continue on. Day one in Rwanda is done. GOOD NIGHT!

First, Wednesday June 16th was truly a KSG Celebration. Watching the 140+ Children's 401 students walk the stage and then exit the Worship Center was a powerful reminder of all we have to CELEBRATE from the KSG 2009-2010 season. One day the sweet Pre-K students who cannot read nor write will reach this pinnacle of KSG--penning and sharing their testimonies, representing at Mission Fair, and boldly going out into the world on mission. We cannot wait for each and every student to reach this major accomplishment in their own walk with Jesus.

Now we are at a week later and ready to send off our 2nd All STARS 2010 Global PEACE Team. Remember the 1st team went out to Ensenada, Mexico over Memorial Day weekend. Updates on the fabulous 40 from the All STARS 2010 Mexico PEACE Team are archived in May blog posts.

On Friday June 25, 24 of the 43 person All STARS 2010 Rwanda team will be heading off on their LONG journey to Rwanda. After months and months of raising support, training and growing together as the Body of Christ, they are ready to go and do God's work in the "Land of a Thousand Hills." Please join us in prayer for the departure of Team #1 this Friday. Also, stay tuned as this blog will update you over the next month on the adventures of the All STARS 2010 Rwanda PEACE Team. We cannot wait to share God's workings in the weeks to come.

It is hard to believe, but we are at our FINAL nights of "official" Kids Small Groups. All of the groups are having in-class parties as they celebrate all that their kids small group learned and accomplished this year. We are looking forward to a night of fun and memories.

Then next week on Wednesday June 16th is our KSG Celebration. We will come together as an entire Kids Small Groups family to reflect on "The Journey" and then celebrate in larger groups (i.e. Children's 101, 201, 301, 401 and Pre-K to Grade 2). Do NOT miss this grand finale to KSG 2009-2010. We'll be in the Worship Center @ 6:30 pm.

Finally, ending KSG 2009-2010 would not be complete without gearing up in excitement for the 2010-2011 season. RIGHT NOW until the night of KSG Celebration you can register your child for an "early bird" rate of $50 per child. We are also excited to introduce the brand new opportunity to register online. Click on the link in the left-hand column to do so.

Get ready for an explosive finale to KSG 2009-2010!

What an incredible weekend. Words cannot begin to express the joy that we returned home with the other evening as our 40-person team's journey ended. Feel free to check out this link for some GREAT pictures of our ministry in action:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=35800716#!/AVMinistries?ref=ts

Also, for more on the life-change from the trip check out Liza Gant's blog (link is on the left-hand column)