How to Develop a Ministry 2/22/11

Today we discussed ministry & how each one of us is called to be a ministry to others. Lots of ideas were shared for ways to live your life to serve, bless and encourage other people and the girls were challenged to dedicate their whole lives to honoring Christ in everything they do.

Each of the girls came up with a "ministry goal" that they are going to work on for the next two weeks until our next meeting. Sample goals included spending time with your brother, writing a note of encouragement to a little girl at church, helping your mom out with more chores or praying for a certain friend.

At our next meeting we will be checking everyone's progress to see if they worked on their goal.

Our game for the evening was a combination of "Mingle" and "Ministry Ideas Scattegories" (Yes, I did make those games up). Basically, after a drawn out process of mingling and answering silly questions, the girls got into groups of 4 or 5 and had 5 minutes to write a list of as many ministry ideas as possible. Then, each group went around and read their list... if your group had something from another group's list you both had to cross the idea out. Whichever team had the most ideas at the end won.

Sylvia, reading her team's list....

After our lesson and game everyone split up into small groups for discussion and prayer.

The Rebekah group has a "discussion monkey" (or something like that) to pass around & whoever holds the monkey gets to talk. :)

Heather & Cecily...

The Mary group...

We ended with tea & some yummy desserts provided by Rachel & Abby. Don't forget to work on your ministry goal, I'll look forward to seeing how you did at our next meeting on March 8th!

Mercy 2/8/11

This evening our topic was Mercy: replacing punishment with kindness or when someone else gets me out of trouble at his own expense. In relation to the Gospel, truth condemns and mercy frees. We also discussed how we can apply mercy with our brothers & sisters and with how we should show mercy to those who are annoying to us.

During the evening, the girls were split up into five groups and given a parable from the Bible illustrating God's mercy to transform into a skit.

To make it more hilarious, each of the teams were given a bag of random costumes they had to wear & use in their skit.

Abby & Katelyn planning their skit...

Haleigh & Sarah cracking up during skit rehersal...

Karen goofing off while Taylor & Jessica busily plan...

Rehearsing the parable of the Unmerciful Servant..

In a big group, there are lots of ideas to discuss..

Jenna, Martha, Sylvia & Katie performing...

Katie as the prodigal son...

Shelby performing as a Pharisee...

McKenzie as the humble tax collector and Rachel as the narrator...

The parable of the lost sheep...

Heather & Kalei...

The journeyman who was attacked by robbers (aka.. Sarah)

The Pharisee passing on the other side of the road (Kalei)...

The Good Samaritan (Brooke)...

Taylor & Karen...

Jessica (the king) and Jenna (the servant)...

"Please have mercy on me!"

Jenna & Cecily

You may be able to tell from the pictures, we enjoyed lots of giggles and fun with these skits. There are quite a few actresses in our group! We got lots of great pictures of the skits & none of everything else. The meeting ended with small groups & tea.

Our next meeting will be on February 22nd. See you soon!

Presenting the Gospel 1/25/11

Last night we enjoyed lots of giggles and good fellowship as we discussed practical ways to share the Gospel. I shared the 3 main points that are important to share when presenting the Gospel to someone:

1. Their Sin, Their Need
2. The Savior, Jesus Christ
3. Their Response

I shared with the girls practical ways to prepare for opportunities to share your faith & ideas for creative ways to share the Gospel.

Martha, Sophie & Cecily...

We finished the lesson by going through a tract with diagrams that are helpful to use when sharing the Gospel.

After the lesson, the girls split up into partners & practiced sharing the Gospel with each other using the tracts we had just discussed.

Karen shares the Gospel with Amber...

Sophie explains the Gospel to Cecily...

Kalei going through the tract with Elsah...

Then, I asked for three volunteers who wanted to try a challenge. On their turn, I would give each girl a random object & 2 minutes to explain the Gospel. After each of the girls did their presentation, everyone voted on which presentation helped them understand the message clearly.

Sarah started with a glass of water & talked about being clean & pure like that glass of water. (Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of her)

Next, Elsah used a watch to talk about eternity, a place where their is no time.

Finally, Shelby used an eraser to talk about how Jesus erases our sins.

It was a very expressive, passionate group so there was lots of laughter throughout. ;)

This was our last meeting with Elsah & Myra who are headed to another assignment with the military. We will miss you girls a lot - thank you for sharing your joy, enthusiasm & friendship with our group. You will be missed by everyone & we look forward to hearing from you soon! :)

We ended the meeting with small groups & tea time.

Our next meeting will be on February 8th, 2011 from 6:15-8:15pm. We will be starting at 6:15 with a game so please make every effort to be there on time or a little early. All pen pal forms & cards need to be turned in by this meeting.

See you soon!

Being Valiant for the Truth 1/11/11

Despite the snow and bitterly cold temperatures we had a good group show up this evening as we began the semester with Set 2.

During our lesson we discussed being valiant for the truth by avoiding all forms of deceitfulness in our lives, being firmly grounded in God's word so we can combat the lies of the enemy and proclaiming the truth to others so that they might be set free.

The girls were challenged to have a quiet time every single day from tomorrow until the day of our next Bright Lights meeting. I gave each of them a sheet with ideas for this time with the Lord and a checklist for each day until our meeting on the 25th.

I'm not sure what point I was making in this picture, but it must not have been a very good one. :)

After the lesson everyone split into two groups to play a game. I would give a lie from the enemy. Each group was assigned to either come up with reasons why I should believe the lie or why, based on Scripture, I shouldn't believe it. After the teams had 5 minutes to prepare we had a little "debate" between the groups.

It was a helpful reminder of the importance of having a strong foundation in Scripture so we can easily combat the lies of Satan.

Group "Our last names begin with A-K"

Group "Our last names begin with L-Z"

In their small groups the girls got a chance to play the game "two truths & a lie," discuss the lesson together & share prayer requests.

We ended with tea, dessert & fellowship.

Cecily looking over the new lesson booklet...

Rachel, Jessica, Karen & Sylvia chatting over their tea..

Thank you all for braving the cold & coming this evening. I enjoyed seeing everyone again & I look forward to hearing how your quiet times go in the next two weeks. Our next meeting will be on January 25, 2011 from 6:15 - 8:15pm. See you soon!

A New Semester!

I'm looking forward to starting up Set 2 on Tuesday with everyone! See you this Tuesday, January 11th, 2011 from 6:15-8:15pm! Don't forget your Bible and Bright Lights notebook.