Devotional

Each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Romans 12:14
A healthy body has many, many functioning parts. Some are visible to the observing eye and some are not. But each part is important to the ongoing health of the body and its proper functioning. So it is with the local church body. God places different people with different gifts in each body. Each person must do their job or the body will not be healthy. In order for souls to be won to Christ, each of us must do our job. Were all on the same team, reaching for the same goal. So we must work together.
Carolyn Larsen, One-Minute Devotions for Women

Childrens Council Easter 2013

Grow in God

History - 2012 Event

2012 Event was held on Saturday prior to Easter from 10 am noon We began the event with a puppet show about the meaning of Easter and then had crafts and an egg hunt for kids 3rd grade and younger. Teens dressed as Easter Bunnies and orchestrated photos. Biggest positive change from 2011 Music Ministry agreed to change practice time so Sanctuary was available all morning

Biggest negative change from 2011 Number of volunteers decreased and no volunteer(s) to lead JLU activity

Attendees in 2012
2 and under 3 years 4 years 5 years 6 years 11 12 6 9 8

7 years
8 years 9 years 10 years 11 years Total*

5
7 7 4 2 71 17 non Pender 3 Pender Hill School
13 kids 9 and older

*there may be additional kids who attended but didn't sign in

Plan for 2013

We didnt originally start out with the plan to change the date to a weekday. This happened during a meeting in looking at calendars and thinking of how we could best carry out the event.

As we discussed volunteer/attendee availability and who we wanted to reach the plan developed to purposefully reach out to the Pender Hill kids and moms. (Who/What/Why)
We scheduled for the Wednesday prior to Easter during Spring Break for Fairfax and Loudoun Counties (including Pender Hill School) and gained commitments from several inside and outside of Childrens Council to lead the event.

Reaching Out
Direct contact We gave invitations to the 120 Pender Hill Students inviting them to our Easter Story Time and Egg Hunt on the Wednesday before Easter
Social Media and Flyers Dulles Moms web site, Facebook, Flyers in local stores

Flyers Sunday School Students

Challenges
Volunteers Overcoming objections to changing the event to a weekday Preparing for the correct number of kids and for the right ages

Opportunities
Teach the story of Easter to un-churched kids Share in the planning and execution with new members of Childrens Council Use new methods to reach the kids Ask others at Pender to share their talents to execute the event

Event
Began with music at 10 am (Pastor Kevin) Easter story (Darlene Bell) Resurrection Museum (5 yrs +) Egg Hunt (birth 4 yrs) Egg Scavenger Hunt (5 yrs +) Snacks Prizes (Easter coloring book, mug, etc)

Attendees
Age Pender Member Pender Hill Student Non-member or student Totals

Birth -2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10 11-12 Totals

7 13 4 6 2 5 37

12 21 7 2 2

10 15 13 10 3

29 49 24 18 7 5 132

44

51

Attendees over 150 kids Sign in sheet = (please note all of the volunteers kids werent signed in nor late arrivals) 5 and over = 54 (approx.) 4 and under = 78 (approx.)

Comparison of 2012 and 2013 recorded attendance

140 120

100 80 60
40 20 0 Non members Pre School Pender Member Total 2012 Difference 2013

Results
By changing our typical model from a Saturday to Wednesday and inviting those outside of Pender, over 90 of the 150 attendees who attended were not Pender members Some families who attended the Kids Easter event attended Easter services at Pender At least 1 family who recently began attending Pender began attending Sunday School after the event (2 sons)

Resurrection Museum

Egg Hunt

Egg Hunt

Next Steps
Continue to think differently and pray every time we meet/plan/serve Remember that God has big plans for us and be prepared Continue to reach out to many on and outside the Childrens Council to use their talents to make disciples for Jesus Christ Give thanks