Welcome back to kids church for week two!  This week we are talking about Obadiah.  Obadiah means “servant or worshiper of the Lord”.  We will discover what God has to say about how we, as worshipers of God, should treat our brothers and sisters.

“You should not look down on your brother in the day of his misfortune.”   Obadiah 1:12a

I hope everyone had a great summer!  As fall approaches remember that Kids Church is starting back up on September 17th at 7pm.  We will be talking about the book of Amos.  This year will be just as fun packed as last, so be sure not to miss out!  See you there!

Since joining staff here at KIDS Inc. I’ve been totally blessed to be able to take a bunch of guys to a handful of 1 day skateboarding trips. Most of the time all we do is meet up at Horizon Central on a Saturday afternoon, say, “hey, what do you want to do? I don’t know, what do you want to do?” and then end up at Major Taylor, the local skate park. But since school finished I’d really been wanting to do something special for them. There’s an amazing skate park in Kettering, Ohio called the Rob Dyrdek/DC shoe Foundation Plaza Park that all of the skaters have been talking about for a long time now. It’s a skate park that we’re trying to model a skate park of our own after and also caters to the specific style of skateboarding that they do. So this last Monday I took them there!

It was amazing day! It started out by me telling them to meet me at the church at 9 a.m. and guarantying them that I would be driving away at 9:30. At about 8:40 I get a call from one of them and all of them had been at the building since 8:30! No, they didn’t get the time wrong… they just REALLY wanted to go! Just note that these are a bunch of kids who don’t start their day until about 2 p.m.!!!!

We rolled out at 9:30 as promised and went to the Plaza Park! All of the kids had an amazing time! Praise the Lord that no one got hurt…… well….. except for Kyle. He hurt his ankle within the first 10 minutes of being there! Poor guy. We got there knowing full well that there was a really good chance for thunderstorms but did it anyways. Fears gave way to reality and it did in fact rain mid-day. It turned out for the better though because we just took shelter in a nearby, local skateshop and did a little bit of shopping. After the rain stopped we had wait for the ground to dry. So we took some time under a dry pavilion to do a Bible study. I’m totally blessed to see all of the guys now expecting that any time we get together we’re going to do a Bible study. We did a short study of the book of Psalms and Proverbs. We learn in Psalms how to pray and who God is and in Proverbs wisdom on how to live life skillfully. Then, it was time to skate again!

It was a great time for me to spend time with the guys one on one having small conversations here and there and encouraging them when they would be trying really hard to land a specific trick. Not only have I been seeing these guys growing in there abilities as skaters, but also in there desire for the Lord. I’ve been so blessed to see a couple of the guys pray to except Jesus into their hearts and truly grow in their relationship with Him. Those same guys are amazing witnesses for the Lord and bring as many of their friends to church as will come. The others that haven’t excepted Him I see are at least drawing closer. Please keep praying for those!

Not only was this a great time for the guys to skateboard, but also for us to spend time together having fellowship in the Spirit!

-Jake

Just so that you don’t get worried, the hand signals that we’re showing is dw which stands for “Do Work”, meaning, that if you’re going to do something, do it! Don’t be lazy about it! If it’s skateboarding or walking with the Lord, “Do Work”

to see more pictures from the trip just check out

http://picasaweb.google.com/jakemedlong/Ketteringskatetrip

I have been blessed this past school year to eat lunch with kids at local elementary schools.  As those relationships with the kids, parents, and teachers have grown, opportunities to minister the love of Christ have grown greatly.  This year I am looking forward to W.@.k.iWeek (Week @ Kids Inc) simply because of the impact these relationships have had with kids in our area.  My desire is to become involved even more with the local schools so that Kids Inc leaps to the front of the minds of teachers and parents when they think about the school year and what it has to bring.  I look ahead to the day when teachers automatically utilize us as a resource, parents lean on us for support and growing numbers of kids continue to grow in the pure Word of God.

Please be praying for W.@.K.I Week and all our kids. 

                                    

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6

“Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” Habakkuk 2:3

Over the past several years we have walked in the believe that God would have us build a park suitable for skating in the church property. Our vision was one of a cutting edge type park welcoming to all including skaters. We shared the vision with many in our neighborhood and believed God for the results. Well, recently we were approached by local neighborhood entities interested in making a ”park for skaters”. We have a group of schools, residents, Community Development companies, Horizon Central (the church), kids, and us getting together to see how the vision can be a reality. God is faithful and amazing!!

We will keep you posted.