Bad Joke of the Week (Christmas Edition)

Knock knock.

Who's there?

Avery.

Avery who?

Avery merry Christmas!

~ Ben

Bad Joke of the Week (Christmas & Pirate Edition)

(The answer can be found between the brackets -- just highlight with your mouse.)

QUESTION: What's a pirate's favorite part of Christmas decorating?

ANSWER: <Putting up the Staaarrrrr!>

SPECIAL COMIC STORY: Good News

Sherwin Schwartzrock, who drew all the awesome posters on the walls in our KidVenture room, has worked on a bunch of comic books with me. He's an amazing artist.

One day, he sent me some sketches of a short Christmas story comic he wanted to draw and he asked me if I'd write the script. Of course, I said yes!

The story is about the shepherds who, on a quiet, normal night like any other quiet night, got a visit from some not so quiet messengers! Since we talked about the shepherds last Sunday, I thought I'd share this comic story with you.

Click HERE to read GOOD NEWS.

~ Ben

Coming soon . . . A Very Hoagie Christmas!

This Sunday, Hoagie will be presenting a very merry Christmas puppet show!

Join us as Hoagie shares (or tries to share) what Christmas is all about!

Invite your friends!

That's this coming Sunday! Don't miss it!

And tomorrow, don't miss the special comic book story "Good News", specially for you here in the KidVenture Zone!

~ Ben

Bad Joke of the Week (Christmas Edition)

(The answer can be found between the brackets -- just highlight with your mouse.)

QUESTION: Which reindeer has the worst table manners?

ANSWER: <Rude-olph!>

Family Time: The Good News Band

Read the following short paragraphs. After you read them, there are a couple discussion questions and a short activity to do as a family. This week, you parents just might learn something new about your kids . . . and you kids just might learn something new about your parents!

MATERIALS NEEDED: Whispers!

THIS WEEK'S VERSE: Mark 16:15 -- And then He told them, 'Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.'"

READ: This week's key concept was "Jesus is extraordinary new worth telling others about!"

Joseph and Mary traveled to Nazareth to be counted in the census. While they were there, Mary gave birth to Jesus and laid him in a manger in the stable, since there was no room in the inn. Angels appeared to shepherds in the fields nearby and told them about the birth of Jesus. The shepherds ran to see Jesus and share teh extraordianry news of his birth with everyone they met.

Everyone got a candy cane to remind us:

* An upside-down candy-cane looks like a "J", reminding us of Jesus.
* A right side up candy-cane looks like a shepherd's staff, reminding us of the first people who were told the good news about Jesus' birth.
* An open candy cane is sweet, reminding us that Jesus' birth is SWEET NEWS!!!

TALK:

1. Where did the angel say the shepherds would find baby Jesus?
2. What did the shepherds do after they saw baby Jesus?
3. How does a candy cane remind us of the Good News of Jesus?
4. Share with a family member what you found extraordinary about this week's lesson?

DO:

1. At the dinner table this week, play a game of "telephone". Whisper some extraordinary nws from your day to the person sitting next to you.

2. Have that person whisper the news to the person sitting next to them. Repeat until it gets back to you.

3. Speak the current version of your news outloud to see how well your family did at "telephoning" the extraordinary news.

4. Repeat with other family members until everyone has had a chance to share their extraordinary news.

Adapted from The Stars of Christmas, (c) 2008 Willow Creek Association & The Chapel

Announcement: Kids Christmas Program

Meet us at Meet Me at the Manger, this year's Christmas program, put on by the St. Mark Missionary Church kids!

It's Sunday, December 7, at 6:00. The program will last about 45 minutes and there will be a cake reception afterward!

The kids have been having a lot of fun and working hard to make this a fun night that will warm you up with the true spirit of Christmas . . .

It's a great time to bring friends and family!

~ Ben

Bad Joke of the Week (Christmas Edition)

(The answer can be found between the brackets -- just highlight with your mouse.)

QUESTION: What do monkeys, lions, and elephants sing at Christmas time?

ANSWER: <JUNGLE BELLS!>

~ Ben

Family Time: Mary Ordinary

Read the following short paragraphs. After you read them, there are a couple discussion questions and a short activity to do as a family. This week, you parents just might learn something new about your kids . . . and you kids just might learn something new about your parents!

MATERIALS NEEDED: Smiles!

THIS WEEK'S VERSE: Philippians 4:13 -- I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

READ: This week's key concept was "God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things!"

God sent the angel Gabriel to tell Mary she would have a baby and the child would be God's son. Though Mary was afraid at first, she listened to the angel and allowed God to use her in an extraordinary way.

Remember the paintbrush. And ordinary paintbrush can create a masterpiece of art! Mary was humble and ordinary, but she became a "star of Christmas" by being willing to obey God.

TALK:

How are we like ordinary paintbrushes in the hands of God?

DO:

1. During dinner this week, play "Toss the Smile". Each member of your family begins with a straight face; assign one person to begin with a smile.

2. The person with the smile shares something extraordinary another family member has done (such as helping with a chore, giving a hug, etc.).

3. Then the person waves their hand in front of their face, "grabbing" the smile and changing to a straight face. They "toss" the smile to the family member who did the extraordinary thing.

4. The person who "catches" the smile waves their hand in front of their face and replaces their straight face with a smile -- then shares an extraordinary thing a different family member has done.

5. Keep the game up until everyone has shared. You can even play several rounds.

Adapted from The Stars of Christmas, (c) 2008 Willow Creek Association & The Chapel

THE STARS OF CHRISTMAS

Starting last Sunday, in Kidventure we began a new program for the month of December: The Stars of Christmas.

This program includes videos, object lessons, lots of small group times, music, and all sorts of exciting things to do . . . all focused on discovering (or re-discovering) the real stars of Christmas.

Our first "star" is Mary. We learned about her last Sunday. Of course, as we learn about all these "stars", what we are really learning is that Jesus is the true star of Christmas.

Our Family Time activities for the month comes from the this program as well. (Although our bad jokes do not. And there's some pretty bad ones coming up. I love it!) Use the family times to review what the kids have learned at home, and also to review the verses we are learning.

~ Ben

Baaaaaa-d Joke of the Week

(The answer can be found between the brackets -- just highlight with your mouse.)

QUESTION: What do you get when you cross a boa constrictor with a sheep?

ANSWER: <A wrap around sweater.>

Family Time: Thanks!

Bad Joke of the Week

(The answer can be found between the brackets -- just highlight with your mouse.)

QUESTION: What do you call a sleeping Tyrannosaurus Rex??

ANSWER: <A dinosnore!>

Family Time -- HOPE

Read the following short paragraphs. After you read them, there are a couple discussion questions and a short activity to do as a family. This week, you parents just might learn something new about your kids . . . and you kids just might learn something new about your parents!

MATERIALS NEEDED: Paper and pen, pencil, crayons, pencil crayons, markers, or whatever you want to draw with and draw on!

THIS WEEK'S VERSE: Romans 5:3b-5 -- . . . we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

READ: Hope can mean a lot of different things.

There's "Taco Bell Hope", which we talked about on Sunday. Taco Bell Hope is when you say, "Boy, I hope I get a lot of cheese on my taco" when you go through the drive-through. It's also when you say, "I hope I get a wii for Christmas." Or, "I hope we don't have homework tonight."

Taco Bell hope is wishing!

Real hope, Biblical hope, Godly hope . . . the hope that Paul talks about in Romans . . . THAT hope is not wishful thinking!

THAT hope is the kind of hope that we KNOW will happen! It's confidence! Assurance!

When we put our hope in God, it's not like Taco Bell Hope. We know that when we put our hope in God, we will not be disappointed. When we ask God to forgive our sins, we KNOW he will do that! When Jesus is a part of our life, we KNOW that we will spend forever with him!

Lots better than Taco Bell hope, eh?

TALK:

1. What's the difference between Taco Bell Hope and Biblical Hope? Is Taco Bell Hope bad?

2. What are some things that we KNOW God will always do?

DO:

Draw a picture of a taco and a picture of a Bible. Inside the taco, write some examples of "Taco Bell Hope". Inside the Bible, write some examples of "Biblical Hope".

~ Mr. Ben

Bad Joke of the Week (Pirate Edition)

(The answer can be found between the brackets -- just highlight with your mouse.)

QUESTION: Why couldn't the pirate play cards?

ANSWER: <Because he was sitting on the deck!>

~ Mr. Ben

Bad Joke of the Week

(The answer can be found between the brackets -- just highlight with your mouse.)

QUESTION: What part of a computer does an astronaut like the best?

ANSWER: <The space bar.>

~ Mr. Ben

Bad Joke of the Week

(The answer can be found between the brackets -- just highlight with your mouse.)

QUESTION: Why can't your hand be twelve inches long?

ANSWER: <Because then it would be a foot.>

~ Mr. Ben

Hoagie Cam: Introduction to Romans

Bad Joke of the Week

(The answer can be found between the brackets -- just highlight with your mouse.)

QUESTION: What do you call a snowman in the middle of the desert?

ANSWER: <A puddle.>

~ Mr. Ben

Family Time -- Religion and Relationships

Read the following short paragraphs. After you read them, there are a couple discussion questions.

THIS WEEK'S VERSE: Romans 2:29b -- . . . (it is) by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.


READ: When Paul wrote his letter to the Romans, he was writing it to some people who were boastful because they followed the Old Testament law.

Today, people sometimes do the same thing. They think that if they go to church, that's all they need to do. Or that if they follow all the rules, that's all they need to do. Or that if they do good things, that's all they need to do. Or that if they at least aren't as bad as other people they know, that's all they need to do.

But salvation is not about following rules and doing rituals. Salvation comes from having Jesus in our lives. It means having a relationship with Jesus.

If we have a relationship with Jesus, we will want to do good things. We will want to be good people. We will want to do the things Jesus has asked us to do.

TALK:

1. Talk about salvation and what it means to be a Christian. How do you become a Christian? What does it mean when you are friends with Jesus?

2. Why do Christians need to do things like go to church and pray and help others and follow the rules?

~ Mr. Ben

Bad Joke of the Week (Pirate Edition)

(The answer can be found between the brackets -- just highlight with your mouse.)

QUESTION: Why did the pirate's phone go BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP?

ANSWER: <Because he left it off the hook!>

~ Mr. Ben

Family Time -- Worship

Sunday morning, our KidVenture time was spent in worship. We prayed together and sang together and it was a very fun morning. We learned some new songs, sang some old songs, and I dug out a song we haven't done in a very long time (Spin).

For family time this week, we want to encourage you to set aside some time for intentional worship as a family. 

1. Sing a song together. 

Choose a familiar worship song from church, from the radio, from the Bethel College chapel band CDs, from anything, really. Just choose a song that is about God's love or God's power or God's place in your life. Think about the words as you sing it. Take a moment to talk about what the song is about.

2. Pray together.

Pray some prayers of praise and thanksgiving. Take turns finishing these sentences:

God, thank you for __________.

God, you are __________.

God, when I think of you, I think of __________.

Have a great week! I'll see you on Sunday!

~ Mr. Ben

PS -- For a peak at one of the new songs we learned, check this out:

Wanna Be Clip

The songs came from Uncle Charlie, a kid's worship leader. I've had his DVDs for a little while, and I'm so glad we used them yesterday. They were awesome!

A Note from Mr. Ben

Hey, I hope you've been enjoying the KidVenture Zone.

We're going to be adjusting the blog here every so often as we try to work out the kinks and find our groove.

Some things to watch for in the future are commenting options (right now, the blog is set so that you cannot comment on the entries) and more regular features.

For now, the features you can look forward to being here regularly are the Family Time activities and the Bad Joke of the Week. We really hope the Family Time activities are something that you find helpful. We're designing them to allow for some conversation starters and also to give a peek into what we are learning about in KidVenture on Sunday morning.

Family Time is scheduled to appear every Monday at 11:00 AM.

We also really hope the Bad Jokes of the Week make you either laugh or groan. I'll be happy either way. Next week, btw, is another Pirate Edition. 

Bad Joke of the Week is scheduled to appear every Wednesday at 7:00 AM.

This Sunday, Pastor John will not be with us, so we will be taking a week off from the regular Romans lesson. Instead we will be focusing on worship. The Family Time on Monday will also focus on worship.

Have a great weekend!

~ Mr. Ben

Bad Joke of the Week (Bonus Edition!)

(The answer can be found between the brackets -- just highlight with your mouse.)

QUESTION: Why did the chicken cross the road?

ANSWER: <To get to the other side.>


QUESTION: Why did the cat cross the road?

ANSWER: <It was practicing how to catch chickens.>


QUESTION: Why did the other cat cross the road?

ANSWER: <It was a copy cat.>


QUESTION: Why did the rubber chicken cross the road?

ANSWER: <She wanted to stretch her legs.>


QUESTION: Why did the cow cross the road?

ANSWER: <To get to the udder side.>


QUESTION: Why did the turtle cross the road?

ANSWER: <To get to the Shell station.>


QUESTION: Why did the duck cross the road?

ANSWER: <To prove he was no chicken.>


QUESTION: Why did the pirate cross the road?

ANSWER: <To get to the other TIDE!!!>

QUESTION: Why did the orange go halfway across the road?

ANSWER: <Because it ran out of juice.>


QUESTION: Why did Mr. Ben cross the road?

ANSWER: <He was running away from all the people who read his jokes!>


~ Mr. Ben

Family Time -- Judgement Day

Read the following short paragraphs. After you read them, there are a couple discussion questions and a short activity to do as a family. This week, you parents just might learn something new about your kids . . . and you kids just might learn something new about your parents!

MATERIALS NEEDED: Paper and pen, pencil, crayons, pencil crayons, markers, or whatever you want to draw.

THIS WEEK'S VERSE: Romans 2:4b -- . . . God's kindness leads you toward repentance . . .


READ: Yesterday, both the adult service and KidVenture talked about judging others.

We also talked about some appropriate times to be a judge (like, for example, when you are a judge in a courtroom or when you are a parent or teacher who needs to take care of something wrong that someone has done). But the one perfect judge is God.

And I'm pretty glad for that.

Only God is a perfect judge because when we sin, it is HIS law we are breaking. But he also makes a perfect judge because he is a loving judge. As our verse says, "God's kindness leads to repentance." Well, Paul wrote those words to people who were forgetting that God's kindness leads to repentance. Instead, they were acting like judges themselves.

Instead of judging people who are doing wrong, we need to remember that God forgives our own sins . . . and we need to try showing that love to others. We can do this by being forgiving ourselves (showing by example) and by telling other people about God's forgiveness.

TALK:

1. Tell about a time when you were forgiven. What kind of feelings did you have? What kind of feelings do you think the person who forgave you had?

2. When you forgive someone, you are telling them about God's love without even mentioning his name! How are you showing or telling people about God's love when you forgive?

DO:

Draw a picture of something you were forgiven for. After everyone has drawn their picture,take turns showing it to the rest of the family. Then take turns TEARING IT UP AND THROWING IT AWAY!!! Because that's similar to the way God feels about the sin he has forgiven. 

~ Mr. Ben

Bad Joke of the Week

(The answer can be found between the brackets -- just highlight with your mouse.)

QUESTION: Why were the old days of European history called the Dark Ages?

ANSWER: <Because there were so many knights!>

~ Mr. Ben

BLAST FROM THE PAST!!! Peanut Butter and Jelly Episode 1!!!

Bad Joke of the Week (Pirate Edition)

(The answer can be found between the brackets -- just highlight with your mouse.)

QUESTION: Why are pirates called pirates?

ANSWER: <Because they arrrrrr!>

~ Mr. Ben

Family Time -- Introduction to Romans

Read the following short paragraphs. After you read them, there are a couple discussion questions and a short activity to do as a family. This week, you parents just might learn something new about your kids . . . and you kids just might learn something new about your parents!


THIS WEEK'S VERSE: Romans 1:16 -- I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes . . .


READ: Yesterday, both the adult service and KidVenture talked about the introduction to Romans. It's pretty exciting, because for the next little while, the kids and adults will be learning the same things on Sunday mornings (although in different ways).

Romans was a letter from Paul to some people at a church he had never been to, but wanted to visit, so it starts with an introduction. The first thing he says is, "From Paul, a servant of Christ." He probably thought that was one of the most important things about himself. The whole rest of the introduction is filled with information about Paul: things he thinks the Romans might want to know about him and things he thinks are important. He ends the introduction by saying, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes." Again, that seems to be something that's VERY important to him. And in a lot of ways, it's what the whole book of Romans is about.

Get ready to go on an adventure for the next little while as we learn about that power!

TALK:

1. Why would Paul think that being a "servant of God" is an important part of who he is?

2. Before Paul knew Jesus' love, he was a pretty bad guy and did some pretty awful things. How do you think that connects with Paul saying, "I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes"?

DO:

Pretend the people in your family don't know you. Introduce yourself to them, telling them three of the most important things about you.

Kid Jokes (from Sunday's party)

Here's our girl's joke and our boy's joke from our contest last Sunday. As you remember, I said the winning joke would be posted here . . . but they both were winners!

(The answer can be found between the brackets -- just highlight with your mouse.)

The girls' joke:

QUESTION: Why did the chicken cross the playground?

ANSWER: <To get to the other slide.>

The boys' joke:

QUESTION: What do you call Batman and Robin after they get run over by a dinosaur?

ANSWER: <Flatman and Ribbon.>

Thanks to ALL our volunteers in our contest Sunday morning!

Speaking of contests . . . here's some video of the final contest of that morning:

~ Mr. Ben

Bad Joke of the Week

(The answer can be found between the brackets -- just highlight with your mouse.)

QUESTION: Why do bees hum?

ANSWER: <Bee-cause they forgot the words.>

Tomorrow, the kid jokes from Sunday's party!

~ Mr. Ben

Hoagie Cam: Welcome to KidVenture

Awesome Party Today!

We had so much fun at the party this morning.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm never going to forget that pretzel contest or the Chubby Bunnies contest. (One reason I'll never forget the Chubby Bunnies contest is that we video taped it . . . for all time!)

Next Sunday we will be starting the adventure for real, with a new series, new activities, and new small groups. Miss Donna and I are EXTREMELY excited about it and can't wait to see you there.

Keep an eye on the KidVenture Zone here this week. We'll be posting some videos, some jokes (the great jokes from this morning and one of Mr. Ben's groaners), and we'll give a sneak peak at September's topic.

Have a great week!

~ Mr. Ben

Coming Soon!!!

Don't miss out on the adventure!

St. Mark Missionary Church's KidVenture Zone will be here soon! Check in for updates!