Dance Steps, Jello Oceans, and a Really BIG Fish

This past week at Wellshire was Music Camp.  The Director of Contemporary Music here wrote a short musical on the story of Jonah and over a week 17 3rd-8th graders learned the show and presented it in church!

It was a very cool week.  Holly, my mentor/supervisor planned the whole week, and she doesn't do anything halfway!  We made Jonah Snack Mix (blue M&Ms for the sea, goldfish for the big fish, pretzels for the prayers of Jonah and the Ninevites, pumpkin seeds for the plant, and raisins for a second chance) and Jonah Jello (blue, with a gummy fish 'swimming' in each cup). We let the kids experience being swallowed by a big fish.  We created a giant fish belly by covering a room with black plastic sheeting and made the doorway look like a fish mouth:

Some open cans of cat food (for the smell)
and a splashing water sound effect completed the effect! 

Games, crafts, and songs also were fish/ocean/Jonah themed. By the end of the week, they knew that story inside and out, with all of their senses.  How awesome.

The 5th-8th graders designed and painted a GIANT fish for us!

Every day started with Holly, learning another piece of the story.  She would read the scripture, then reinforce it through some true/false questions about whales and Jonah, and then sing an energizing song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3ytoIhRYAQ (a parody of "Mony Mony" called "Jonah Jonah") It was so cool. Watching her do this direct teaching connected with my heart is a big way.

Then was games, crafts and snacks.  After all that fishy fun, we had rehearsal every day.  It was hard work to cast, learn, block, memorize, practice, costume, and perform a whole musical in one week, but we pulled it off!  The kids had a blast all week long and were such excellent performers the show.

Our excellent cast!

After the week, here are my thoughts about Children's Ministry:

• It's intense! There is a lot done behind the scenes that doesn't always get noticed, but would certainly be missed.
• Good organization is key!  You must learn to coordinate and embrace volunteers. This includes learning to interact with a variety of people.
• Kids are absolutely able to understand, embrace, and proclaim the message of a Bible story.
• I would love to teach kids to get excited about God's book.
• Writing your own program can be a huge challenge, but a creative person (Holly) can pull it off!

I want to be just like Holly.

• A career devoted to telling kiddos about our God (teaching, reinforcing, checking for understanding) is probably one of the best jobs on the planet.  And a little bit scary. It's a big deal, eternally important work.

The call to ministry is becoming more and more clear to me. Many people here have given me verbal confirmation of my gifts in this area. I don't think I can see myself doing anything else.