Great Adventure Club Celebrates JESUS BIRTH

We hope you like the Christmas Card we sent -- and the awesome EWITBIAT Card. Be sure and show that to people and ask if they know what it means. If they don't you can show them. Our email address is on the EWITBIAT Cards so if your parents say you can - email us and tell us you much you miss the Great Adventure Club. We miss YOU.

Are you ready for Christmas? We bet you are.
There is so much going on - lots of things to do and places to go. But please take time to think about the birth of God's Son, Jesus. It is because of Jesus being born that we can be "born" again.
JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THIS WONDERFUL SEASON -- AND ALL OTHER SEASONS TOO.

Wilderness Challenge #5

Surprise!

Snack Man wanted to say, HI!

Week #5 “WILDERNESS CHALLENGE”
Return the completed assignment to The SaFaRI Treasure Club on November 13th
Here is your BONUS:

SaFaRI is an acrostic for….
Savior and Friend and Redeemer Immortal

Can you say 1 Timothy 1:17 verse without reading it yet?

Try saying it. Then check to see what a great job you did.

You can fill in the blanks on your Challenge paper!

Unto the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible,
The Only Wise God, be honor and glory forever.

1 Timothy 1:17

You are doing SUPER!!!

Hide this verse in your heart too!

Jesus Christ, is the same yesterday, today and forever.

~Hebrews 13:8

Guess what! That verse is Snack Man's FAVORITE VERSE!

Just ask him!

(And his FAVORITE COLOR is BLUE!)

Next week is our LAST SaFaRI Treasure Adventure!

Don't miss the PARTY!

White Dogs are beautiful!

Did you know that Leisa had a white dog too?

Her name is NANNIE and she is so tiny compared to TUCKER!

Do you have a dog?

Wilderness Challenge #4

Welcome back SaFaRI Treasure Hunters!

Here is your BONUS: JESUS, is the REDEEMER. HE PAID the PRICE for MY SINS.

Here are the answers to your Gospel bracelet colors. We know you remembered - but just want to see if you were correct. RIGHT?

What do the bead colors represent?

• Black represents SIN that separates us from God. (Romans 3:23)


• Red represents the BLOOD that Jesus shed for us when he died in our place. (Romans 5:8)


• White represents a PURE (or) CLEAN heart when we receive God’s forgiveness. (Matthew 5:8)


• Green represents our hearts and minds GROWING as we learn more about Jesus and obey HIS commands. (2 Timothy 2:15)


• Gold represents HEAVEN - where those that receive Jesus as Savior will live forever! (John 14:2-3)

HEY! Don't forget to be on the lookout for ZOO LOO BONGO --

and guard your Treasure!

Week #3 of SaFaRI Treasure!

WOOO-HOOOO! LOOK HOW GREAT YOU LOOK!!!

Be sure and thank Mrs. Rainwater for taking our photo!

PLEASE - wear your shirts to our next 3 SaFaRI Adventures!

Isn't Tucker a beautiful dog? He is SO big!!!

HERE IS YOUR BONUS!

Fill in your 4 spaces with ... JESUS IS MY FRIEND!

MORE TRADE BEADS FOR YOU TO REDEEM!

1. John 15:13 – “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for HIS FRIENDS.
2. John 15:14 - You are my FRIENDS if you do what I COMMAND.
3. Romans 5:8 - But God demonstrates HIS own LOVE for us in this: While we were still SINNERS, Christ DIED for us.

We will see you on October 30th.

Have a fun fall break!

Congratulations! You have found answers for the 2nd Wilderness Challenge!

AND YOU get a BONUS of 5 extra Trade Beads!!!

The BONUS words to write in the blanks are "JESUS LOVES ME!"

Here are the lesson answers:

1. Romans 3:23 – “For ALLhave SINNED and come short of the glory of God.”
2. From 1 John 1:7 – “… The BLOOD of Jesus Christ….cleanses us from all SIN.”
3. From Psalm 51:7 – “Wash me…I shall be WHITER than SNOW.”
4. 2 Peter 3:18 – “…GROW in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and SAVIOR Jesus Christ.”
5. John 14:2 – “In MY Father’s House are many MANSIONS.”

WELCOME SaFaRI Hunters!

If you are checking for answers to Week #1 Wilderness Challenge - you are at the right place!

Here are the answers:

#1. The Bible was written over 1500 years by how many different authors? 40

#2. What is the world’s best-selling book? The BIBLE

#3. There are more translations of The BIBLE into different languages than any other book.

#4. The OLD Testament books were written BEFORE Jesus Christ was born.

#5. The New Testament was written to explain God's salvation plan for man through the birth, life, death,and resurrection of JESUS CHRIST.

DON'T FORGET TO BING YOUR WILDERNESS CHALLENGE PAPER TO CLUB on OCTOBER 9th and earn 5 BONUS TRADE BEADS!

WOOO-HOO!!! The fall 2008 Great Adventure Club/SaFaRI Treasure opens Thursday, October 2nd. We have 62 HUNTERS registered to attend!

God has supplied the volunteers and the finances to be able to tell the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade adventurers about JESUS!

To God be the glory!!!

Let the ADVENTURE BEGIN!!!

GOD SENDING MORE BLESSINGS!

The leadership team of GAC has been praying for more adult volunteers to join the team. God has heard our prayer!!! So far it looks like God whispered to 3 adults and 2 teens! We would like at least 20 adults -- working in twos with the kids. If you know of a born-again-Believer that would like to answer the call to be a missionary among 3rd-5th grade students please have them contact us at greatadventureclub@embarqmail.com

A police background check is completed on each of our volunteers. This information is made available to the public school for their records.

We also ask that our volunteers be comfortable and ready to share their own story of finding a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and how that relationship has changed their life. There are children needing to hear the personal story of HOPE. Join us. We do have fun, too!

She Started IT!!!

Where did the idea of the Great Adventure Club start?




You HAVE to meet Kelly! This young woman lives and breathes sharing Christ with kids! You cannot be around her as she speaks to the children that you are not transported back to being 10 years old again. It is as a little child that we must come to Christ - and Kelly brings the Bible to life, giving amazing understanding to salvation through everyday life circumstances. Kelly is the one that gave birth to the after school Bible club in our community. When asked to share a note about her passion for reaching kids, she responded....

“After starting several “Good News Clubs” in schools in Johnson, Shelby, and Morgan county, I kept feeling like there was something missing from these clubs. While there were many good things about the GNC’s, the primary focus was simply to present the Gospel over and over.

Our team believes the children need to know how to navigate the Bible and to know that every word in the Bible is absolutely true!! In our Great Adventure Club we write our own lessons and create programs that empower, enable, and encourage children to read their Bibles, memorize Scripture in their hearts, and put their faith into action.

My personal responsibility in the club is the “Object Lesson” portion. I write lessons that correspond with the overall theme and incorporate a prize as the object of the lesson. The kids listen intently to my lesson because they know there is a prize to follow. The prize helps to bring the message to a child’s level of understanding and makes it much more likely that they will remember the Bible Truth in their minds and in their hearts. The children are given the prize and then challened to go tell someone else the lesson they learned.” ~~ Kelly

Why do Kids Love the GAC?

Leisa is on the Great Adventure Club Leadership Team. She is amazing in all she does - and the kids absolutely love her. It is obvious that her success is because the kids see Jesus in her! When asked what her secret was in being so accepted by intermediate school children, Leisa responded:

"Being silly is my secret to winning these kids over for Christ. They get lectured and talked down to all day long by teachers and staff so when we get there, it's time to let them speak and voice their concerns and just "let their hair down". Then we can give them Christ-centered feedback and guidance they may not get at school or at home!

With all the pressures these kids may have bearing down on them, we have to tell them and keep reminding them how much Jesus loves them!!!" ~~~ Leisa

Pray for Leisa and the other volunteers that will lead the after school Bible club this fall.

Fall Adventure Club Dates

Here is the schedule for this fall's Great Adventure Club

"SaFaRI Treasure"

Planning meeting for the volunteer leaders will be

Thursday, September 18th

3:30 PM

In the Indian Creek Intermediate School Cafeteria

The "SaFaRI" program will be explained

and some prep projects shared.

Pray, Prepare and Promote the newest Great Adventure Club!

The "SaFaRI" Treasure Adventure dates will weekly at:

3:15 PM

October 2nd,

October 9th,

October 16th,

(fall break - NO GAC on the 23rd)

October 30th,

November 6th,

and the exciting Closing Club Party Celebration is - November 13th,

MARK the dates on your calendars

and Please PRAY for God's Blessings

for every facet of

planning,

preparing

and executing

the "SaFaRI Treasure Adventure"

The GAC LOGO

We introduced the "Great Adventure Club (GAC) logo 2 years ago. So far, God has provided funds each semester for our "adventurers" to receive a shirt with the theme we are using. The front of their shirt has our featured theme logo as a large imprint. On the back is a small GAC logo along with our chosen Scripture boldly printed.


Our clubs themes and verses thus far have been:

• Faith Race - Hebrews 12:1-2,
• FBI (Faithful Bible Investigators) - John 1:1,
• C.H.A.M.P. Camp (Christ Has A Mighty Plan) - Jeremiah 29:11-14,
• and Expedition 16:15 - 1 Corinthians 15:3-4

Praying for Shirts

We are hoping to have T-shirts printed this fall for all of our adult leaders with our GAC logo shining on the front - and a Scripture message on the back - trying to decide which Scripture to use before ordering them. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Saints that have heard about our club, and believe in what we are doing, have blessed our effort with monitory donations. The shirts are a ministry within the ministry!

The kids and adults wear God's Word in a lot of places; home, school, church, while playing, sporting events, restaurants, and while their family vacations and shopping. God promises that HIS Word will not return void. (Isaiah 55:11). Who can look at a T-shirt and NOT read it? The shirts may possibly be the only Bible scripture some folks will read on any given day.

The exciting thing is that the kids that we have ministered to have been sharing the Word of God through t-shirts for 6 years!

We average about 20 leader volunteers and 80 - 90 kids in each club - in 2 clubs a school year. 6 years x 2 clubs a year = 12 club themed shirts x at least 100 shirts a club = over 1200 opportunities to share God's Word with the world! AND - those shirts are passed on to siblings, sold in garage sales, or passed on to local ministries to pass on to people needing clothes. One shirt with Scripture has quite a life of witness! All God needs is a willing person to wear it!

A special THANK YOU BLESSING goes out to those that have invested in the mission to kid's in our local public school!

Great Adventure Club Plans

School starts soon!

PRAY for the Leadership Team of GAC (Great Adventure Club) as the plans for our next after school Bible club are finalizing. We will start promoting the club in the school in September and begin receiving permission slips from parents and guardians around the middle of the month. It seems like every year there is more competition for kids to participate in other after school activities other than GAC. We are working with 3rd - 5th graders - so bringing the new students in is a challenge as well as keeping the interest of the 5th graders. They really grow up fast in the 3 years they are in intermediate school. It is our prayer to have the opportunity to reach all the students with the Truth of God's Word. It is truly a privilege - "For Such A Time As This" - that God has allowed us to be in public school in our community!

This year's theme will be "The SaFaRI Treasure". SaFaRI is an acrostic for Savior and Friend and Redeemer Immortal. The "Treasure" is eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven given to all that recieve Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Our prayer is to clearly teach each of those Truths to the kids during our 6 club meetings this fall.

PRAY for our Leaders, Guides, and "Adventurers" as we embark on this "SaFaRI" together.

PRAY the children discover Jesus as their personal Savior, Friend, and Redeemer through this Great Adventure; that we guide them in discover these Truths in the Bible for themselves; that they will better understand and internalize the Truths through the object lessons; that they hide the Truths in their hearts through memorizing Scriptures; and that we, the Leaders and Guides, show them the love of Jesus through our interaction with them.

PRAY the lessons we write and present will be blessed by the Holy Spirit to accomplish the goal of honoring and glorifying God and bringing children into the Kingdom of God.

Why Great Adventure address?

The Great Adventure Address may be a bit confusing as it opens my blog to the title "For Such A Time As This". Let me explain.

"For Such A Time As This" is the name of a community ministry I have been a part of for 5 years. Within that outreach ministry - one of the things we do is minister to children in the local public school with and after school program, teaching Bible Truths in a Good News Club through Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF). After 2 years of using CEF materials, we decided to become an independent club for our intermediate school, developing our own program and lessons. We now have introduced approximately 80 children a semester to Jesus with 4 different and exciting themes to draw the children to come to our "Great Adventure Club". They are learning Bible Truths, about a personal relationship with Jesus, and the salvation HE offers to all that believe. It is a Great Adventure as we help equip the kids to handle the Bible, hide God's Word in their hearts, and that 'Every Word In The Bible Is....ABSOLUTELY TRUE! We have an acrostic for that catch phrase --- E.W.I.T.B.I.A.T. It has, not only caught on with the kids in the club, but also kids throughout the school, as well as teachers and other adults in the community. Anywhere we see kids from our club - we simply say, "Every Word In The Bible Is....." and the response comes back (sometimes quite loudly) "Absolutely TRUE!"

That statement is the basis of why we do what we do for Jesus with the kids. In a world that tells them there are no absolute truths - we share the one place they can trust to find that TRUTH every heart seeks. TRUTH is a man - the GOD/MAN, JESUS. We desire, when they hear that non-sense of "there is no absolute truth" - they will be prompted to remember that no matter what the world says, there is Truth - and that Truth is GOD - and the Bible will equip them with the Truth their life needs.

Above is a photo of the "Great Adventure Club" taken in March of 2008. Our theme was "Expedition 16:15". Each child was equipped to understand what a missionary does, the message they take, and to be a missionary - to share the gospel of Christ - starting in their world - where they live and play.

ME? Blogging!?

Hard to believe I have actually gotten this far on THIS Great Adventure! A year ago I hadn't even heard of a blog - let alone visited one! Thanks to son, Brian for starting a family blog - called "What My Dad Saw" with old family photos - the world got bigger for me.

I have tried creating a web page - but well, that caused such frustration and too many new wrinkles to count. Blogging seems (so far) do-able for me.

The 4 youngest grandstinkers (my affectionate name for them) visited last week for a 2 nights and 3 days. As you can see (hopefully the photo loaded) -- they aren't so little anymore. Blake (12) Zachary (10) Paige (8) and Delaney (7) are the best of buddies - and love when they can get together at Nana and Papaw's house. Believe me -- it is always a GREAT ADVENTURE when they are around.