July 7, 2015 -- Issue #21

Have an idea to share or need to ask a question?
 Send it to sstn@sundayschoolnetwork.com

In today's newsletter:

1) We, We, We - Finger Play Poem

2) The Lord's Locker: S.O.S.

3) Jonah - Word Search Puzzle

4) Made in God's Image: Created to be Creative

Share our newsletter with your friends, pastors, and coworkers!

1) We, We, We -- Finger Play Poem

In a recent message my pastor highlighted three "WE's" from 2 Thessalonians 3, and said them together, "WE, WE, WE," which prompted me to think of the little footsie poem from long ago, “This little piggy went to market . . .” 

I couldn’t help myself – I had to write a gospel rendition of the old “toe play,” and changed it to a "finger play."

There's a lost person at the market 
(hold up the pinky finger)

There's a lost person at home 
(also hold up the ring finger)

There's a lost person out eating 
(now add the tall finger)

There's a lost person on the phone 
(then add the index finger)

HEY! I should be sharing the gospel with them 
(As you say HEY – use the 4 fingers to tap yourself on the forehead – like a reminder)

SO that GOD can welcome them HOME!
(Make a fist, holding up the thumb – pointing to heaven – to make an OK sign)

Copyright 2015 - Emmalea Butler

2) The Lord's Locker: S.O.S.

Thanks to SSTN for assisting us at The Lord’s Locker in Trafalgar, Indiana!

The Lord’s Locker ministry is a food and clothing pantry. At this time, we have 12 different area churches represented in our volunteer staff. We help individuals and families that are going through a rough time in their lives by providing groceries, clothing for the whole family, household items, and products, thus saving our guests money that they can now use to pay their bills or to get ahead in their finances.

We claim Jude 22 as our motivational verse, “Some have compassion, making a difference.”

When our guests sign up for our S.O.S. (Strategies Of Success) Program they agree that they understand they will hear about JESUS and experience HIM through their encounters with our volunteers who serve our guests. They also acknowledge that we offer personal (1 on 1) prayer with them each visit, that helps build and maintain caring relationships with our volunteers. They are made aware that each weekly program presents the gospel in some way through object lessons and personal testimonies as our devotion time with each group we serve. 

In signing up for S.O.S. our guests also agree that they will be accountable each week to receive groceries by completing a simple assignment. We explain our ministry’s stance on this because the Bible states that if we don’t work, we don’t eat. We feel the assignments of Christian crossword puzzles, filling in blanks by looking up scriptures, Christian scrambled words, and word searches that involve them reading a short devotion – and then searching for words in that devotion is a fair trade for groceries. 

These assignments are light – but still bring scriptural truths, awareness of Biblical verbiage, and Christian education – as well as encouraging our guests to spend time thinking about GOD in some way. And the guests state that they enjoy doing the assignments!

The S.O.S. program has been in effect for about 18 months and to date, our guests have not only been compliant, but also some ask for extra assignments because they enjoy working them. We call the assignments the guest’s “credit cards” as they earn “credit” that allows them to receive their food. They may also earn bonuses once a month by memorizing scripture!

A few weeks ago, we found a devotion on SSTN for the story of “JONAH” by Sarah Keith. We asked for permission to use this as an assignment – adding a list of words to search for and then circle on the page. We really liked this particular devotion because it presented a summary of the book of Jonah, but, it also encouraged the participant to read each chapter of the book! This is definitely a WIN/WIN personal devotion, because GOD’s WORD promises us that HIS Word will NOT return void! 

Sermon on the Mount
Lessons for Children

Sample Lesson One

THANKS, Sarah and SSTN, for allowing us to include the copyrighted information in the S.O.S. program!

Emmalea Butler
Executive Director, 
The Lord’s Locker, INC
Trafalgar, IN 

--from SSTN: Emmalea, you are so welcome! And for those who are not familiar with Emmalea, she is a longtime subscriber (I think back to our first year in 2000), and a faithful contributor and supporter of SSTN! (She has two submissions in this issue alone!) Emmalea's idea of a word search inspired me to create a word search puzzle, which is referenced, below.

Your webservant,
Sarah Keith <><

3) Jonah Word Search Puzzle

Download our word search puzzle based on a 
summary of the book of Jonah: http://www.sundayschoolnetwork.com/Jonah-Word-Search.pdf

4) Made in God's Image: Created to be Creative

Have you ever heard someone say, or maybe you’ve said it, “I’m not very creative; I can’t even draw a stick figure!” While it’s true that many people can’t draw, the visual arts are not the only measurement for determining creativity. In fact, I believe creativity is a hallmark trait of being made in God’s image!

When God created Adam and Eve, he said,
Let us make man in our image, after our likeness . . .
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. Genesis 1: 26-27 (ESV)

As Christians we believe the term, “us,” is a direct reference to the triune* nature of God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. On the other hand, there are those who would say the “us” is a reference to God’s heavenly court, meaning God and his angels. This presents a problem, because people are not created in the image of an angel. We—human beings, male and female, and not any of the other animals—are created in God’s image, in his likeness. And since God is Spirit (John 4:12), this image must refer to . . . 

Continue reading about being created in God's image: 
http://www.sundayschoolnetwork.com/devo-made-in-Gods-image.html 

Have you written a Bible lesson, game, craft, or skit for children's ministry? 
Send it to: submissions@sundayschoolnetwork.com 

Join the conversation: Send your comments to: sstn@sundayschoolnetwork.com
When replying to this email, highlight the text that is pertinent to your response, then hit reply. 
Title your message to reflect the content.

Don't keep it to yourself!
Use the link at the bottom of the newsletter to forward it to friends and coworkers.

SEARCH SundaySchoolNetwork.com for ideas:

If you're not already subscribed to our newsletter, sign up on our home page: http://www.SundaySchoolNetwork.com

Copyright 1997 - 2014 / d.b.a. "S. A. Keith of Creative Imaginations Reproducing in any medium, commercial or noncommercial, is strictly prohibited without prior written permission. SSTN has contributors from all over the world who share their ideas. If you reprint any of the ideas from SSTN, SundaySchoolNetwork.com or ChristianCrafters.Com in any medium (websites, magazines, newsletters, etc.), you must contact the submitter, and website for reprint permissions. Any materials used must also include the submitter's name and where the ideas were gleaned from. The opinions expressed or advertisements displayed in the SSTN e-Newsletter are not necessarily endorsed by SundaySchoolNetwork.com or any of its affiliates. SSTN reserves the right to edit and or exclude information from the SSTN e-Newsletter.