Our lives are busy. As parents, we want to prioritize our children. We want to do everything we can to invest in them relationally, to guide them developmentally and to help them grow in their faith in Christ. But it’s just so easy to get caught up in the urgent day-to-day business of life.
The Parent Cue App provides you with simple “cues” throughout the week that remind you to pause and make the most of everyday moments.
Every month, Parent Cue will focus on one specific virtue, or life application. You will receive prompts for videos, activities, discussion questions and more that will help you connect with your child around this one key virtue. These prompts will come in the form of Drive Time videos, Hang Time activities, and Meal Time discussion starters to help you fit them into the day-to-day moments of your routine. There’s even a section just for you called Parent Time that’s filled with parent blogs, podcasts and more.

What a beautiful day in Kansas!  Hope you are taking time to enjoy it and thank God for His blessings today. There are 3 things that I would like to share with you and ask for your help:

First, this Sunday we start another service at NewSpring Church and all Sunday service times will change. The new times are 8:45 a.m., 10:15 a.m. and noon. This will allow us to reach more people in South Central Kansas. There have been times when we ran out of parking space and reached full capacity in KidzWorld classes because so many people want to attend our services. The purpose of the additional service is to hopefully spread out the crowds and allow more people to come and enjoy the NewSpring experience without dealing with parking and room size limitations.

I would like to ask each person who is reading this email and celebrates with us about the number of people who are drawn to come to NewSpring to seriously consider how you can help us make this move work. Please consider attending the 8:45 or noon service as your main service time. We believe that 10:15 will be the most attractive to our many guests so we appreciate your help making space for them. Also, consider volunteering if you don’t already. There are many ways to get involved at NewSpring. You can go to our website to get more information about volunteering or just check one of the boxes on your worship guide this weekend and we will get in contact with you about volunteer opportunities.

Another service time addition is happening for Easter weekend ONLY. In addition to our new weekend service times, we will offer a weekend service on Friday, April 6th at 7 p.m. This service will be identical to the Saturday and Sunday services. We expect it to benefit those who may leave town over the weekend or have family plans on Saturday and Sunday.  KidzWorld will be open during all 6 services and The Wire will be open during it’s new schedule of Saturday at 4 and 5:30 p.m. and Sunday at 10:15 and noon. Pick up some mini-invites in the main foyer or in KidzWorld to invite your friends for that special weekend.

Second, Baby Dedication will be May 6 at 3 p.m. This is a very special service for those families that have children under the age of two. It’s a time for parents to commit themselves to raise their children to follow Christ and to instill in them the values & truth from the Bible. You MUST pre-register if you want to participate in this event. We will send you a packet of information that you should complete before the dedication. You can get more information and register here.

Third, KidzWorld Camp is scheduled for June 4-7. We would like to invite your 2nd-4th grader to go to camp at Sky Ranch in Quapaw, Oklahoma. The cost of camp is 259.00 which is an early bird rate available until April 15. We want to make the camp experience fantastic for the kids. NewSpring has rented out the entire camp facility and we have secured some super nice tour buses for transportation. But the camp and bus company need our final numbers well in advance of camp so we really encourage you to sign up by April 15th if your child would like to attend camp. The KidzWorld staff is already making plans to make this the best camp ever!  Don’t miss out on this opportunity to allow your child to have fun and learn something that will impact them for years to come.  Just click here to register. If you don’t have a child going to camp but you would like to help financially with the cost of camp, you can make a donation online or by marking “camp help” on your offering envelope.

All month long, KidzWorld will be learning about the Big Idea of Conviction–standing for what’s right, even when others don’t. As a reminder to stand for what’s right, we are offering a “stand” shoe tag project for the family take-out this month. Pick one up at KidzWorld. Then have fun as a family making personalizing your own shoe tags. The instructions are included below.

Instructions for Shrinky Dink “Stand” Shoe Tag

1. Color. Color and personalize your stand tag with colored pencils. Make sure you color on the rough side. The word “stand” should be backwards to you while you are coloring. DO NOT use water color markers or crayons.

2. Cut-out. Cut out the “Stand” tag on the outline.

3. Punch Holes.  Punch out the small circle to form a hole to fit your shoe lace or a necklace. NOTE: You will need to punch out the entire small circle as the hole will shrink when heated. You will need to make more than one punch if you are using a standard hole punch.

4. Bake. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Put a piece of brown grocery bag paper down on a cookie sheet. Place the Shrinky Dinks, colored side up, on the brown paper and put in the pre-heated oven. Bake approximately 1-3 minutes. As the Shrinky Dink bakes it will shrink and shrivel. After the pieces lay flat, allow an additional 30 seconds of baking time to complete the process. Remove paper from cookie sheet and lightly press FLAT with a folded piece of paper until pieces have cooled (about 15 seconds)

5. Show it off! Lace your “Stand” tag on your shoe lace or wear it as a necklace or backpack tag. Use it as a reminder to stand for what’s right even when others don’t.

Has your elementary-age child been asking about what it means to have a relationship with Jesus? Or maybe your child has already made Jesus his/her best friend and is ready to take the next step of baptism. If so, please consider attending a JumpStart session. JumpStart is a 30 minute session for 1st-4th graders and their parent to hear the simple message of God’s love and forgiveness. At NewSpring, we believe that parents are the primary spiritual leaders for their children so we offer JumpStart as a tool to help you with that role. Upcoming JumpStart dates are Friday, February 24 and Friday, March 2 at 7 p.m. in 252 Theater.

If your child has shown interest in participating in KidzWorld Watermark on March 9th, JumpStart will be the place where your child can make sure he/she understands the concepts of salvation and baptism. He/she will be able to meet with one of our KidzWorld team members to get questions answered. We will even have our video team ready so your child can do a Watermark video testimony right after the JumpStart session.

You can register for JumpStart here. You can find out more about KidzWorld Watermark and register here.

Your 2nd-4th graders can have an awesome time at KidzWorld Camp this summer. Get more information and sign up on-line at newspring.org/kidzworldcamp.

Online registration opens Friday, February 10.