It ought to be a sin to bore kids with God!

Growing up, just about everything in the Christmas Eve Service at the church I was raised in was… well, boring.  I understand now as an adult that not every element in the service needed be Disneyland for me.  But I know this: Having nothing for kids made it clear that no one was thinking “family” when it came to church.  So at the Christmas Eve Service at BridgePointe, I wanted us to be careful in the planning to not make that same mistake.  We will have costumed Christmas characters roaming about and greeting the kids.  Kids on video will creatively act out the Christmas Story.  Our own BridgePointe kids will be singing a couple numbers.  And some special puppet guests will help me welcome everyone to the service.

“Family” is a value of BridgePointe.  The investment and attention we are seeking to make in our kids and students is something for which we will not apologize.  It is one of the reasons we hired Kelley Houser to be our Pre-School Director. She is an experienced and professional teacher that is bringing a creative and knowledgeable edge to our programming.  As she gets settled, you will be seeing and hearing more about our new Pre-School curriculum, name, and atmosphere for this environment.  We have also welcomed Daniel Boerner to our support staff as our Student Ministries Assistant.  He is an incredibly gifted guy who has dedicated himself to caring and encouraging our students.  He is attending Kennesaw State and possesses great talents with music, worship, audio and visual technology, digital design, and media.

Valuing family also means we listen to parents.  This year we created “Fuel,” a gathering for our Junior High students, separate from High School.  We are also convinced another break away needs to occur with our 4^th and 5^th grade kids on Sunday morning.  We agree with the concern of our parents that the current age span is too wide, minimizing our effectiveness.  So at the beginning of the new year we will go back to the drawing board and decide what this new environment for 4^th and 5^th grade will be called, what it will look like, and when we can have the leaders and volunteers to make the change.  We certainly anticipate the 4^th and 5^th graders having a separate meeting space in the near future when we consider layout plans for the more permanent facility.

Along with that, we will be entertaining an added measure of security on Sunday mornings in the new year.  There is certainly no need for alarm, but we want to assure parents that their children ‘s safety is important us.  Although it will never be overt and obvious, our desire is to have an off duty cop, that attends BridgePointe, roaming the hallways of the facility, undercover, each Sunday.

Best of all, we look forward to a new facility in the future where our environment for kids and students will be eye-catching, fun, colorful, and engaging.  Then we will be better positioned to exhibit our value for kids and students, front and center, at BridgePointe. After all… it ought to be a sin to bore kids with God.