We had an outstanding Easter at NewSpring Church. Over 5000 people come out in the cold rain to celebrate. We had a blast with the kids as we told the story of Jesus. We had four services with KidzWorld in full operation and we saw 27 kids accept Christ as their Savior! How cool is that? This picture is of EZ Goinz with some friends. EZ showed up for the party and we did some celebrating with the kids. Thanks to all who helped us pull off 5 total services. We couldn’t have done it without you.
OK, if you missed the kids singing in the Worship Center today with the praise team you missed out on one big blessing. What a joy it was to see hundreds of kids praising the Lord by singing “O Happy Day.” We have been looking forward to it for months. The kids even had some cool actions to go along with the song. Pastor Mark took this opportunity to invite everyone to sign up to attend a “Full Access” meeting with him and some key leaders. The purpose of the Full Access meetings is to give information and answer questions about our new children’s building that is on target to start this spring. You can go to our web site www.newspring.org/fullaccess and sign up for one of these special meetings. This is a very exciting time to be part of a great church like NewSpring. I was blown away by the number of adults who expressed to me how much they enjoyed seeing the kids singing and also that they had no idea that many kids come to NewSpring. By the way, we had 62 kids checked into Adventure Avenue 4 at the 11 a.m. hour. Might need some more space….it is coming and we are looking forward to it!
With snow flying outside, my preschool director Karla Stinson,decided to take advantage of it and do some family bonding. She sent me these pictures of their 
special project. I never thought the Cosmo tattoos would work on an egg. By the way, we did cancel the Saturday night service for this evening.
If you didn’t attend First Wednesday this month or you missed last weekend, you might not have seen this layout of the new building for our preschool department here at NewSpring. We are so excited about this next step as we build a structure to bring in more kids. We have been talking and praying about it for several years and now we are on the threshold of breaking ground on this awesome tool. In the upcoming weeks you will have a chance to see drawings and hear from Mark about our vision at NewSpring. These are exciting days and we are looking forward to more space so we can minister to kids and their families. It’s what we are all about–reaching out to even more people in Southcentral Kansas with the life-changing message of the Bible.
Someone asked me this past weekend, “What does Adventure Avenue look like on a Sunday?” Take a look for yourself…
We had another great weekend at NewSpring Church. Even though it was the end of spring break week we still had a stong attendence in KidzWorld. I usually hang out around the check-in station to greet kids and to take guests to our environments. Once in awhile there will be a parent who may want to ask some questions about the ministry. Today, I was approached by a mother who has been attending for a few weeks and her two boys who attend KidzWorld. She told me that the boys had a choice between going to the zoo for a special day with some friends or coming to KidzWorld. She told me that the boys yelled, “We can go to the zoo anytime but we can only go to KidzWorld on the weekend.” So they piled in the car and came to church today. She also went on to say that they talk all the time about what they learn and always tell their friends where they go to church. And that’s why we do what we do in KidzWorld!!!
If you attend NewSpring this coming weekend you will get to see some of the KidzWorld kids in action. Adventure Avenue 4 through 5th grade kids will be leading one of the worship songs. They are excited about it and you won’t want to miss it.
Today is the first day of spring and also the first day for JH training season. Right now Debbie and I are in Shawnee, KS holding a JH training with the First Baptist Church. It is always exciting to see other churches come on board the JH bus and reach out to the community with the life-saving message of Jesus Christ. If you are reading this, one thing you can do is to pray for these new churches as they share the vision with their church body and they work on all the details of putting on this production. Also start praying for us at NewSpring Church as we start working on a script for this year’s production in Wichita. Over 3 million people have seen a Judgement House production with over 225,000 accepting Christ as their Savior. You can read more about Judgement House at www.judgementhouse.org.
As you may already know we are looking at the virtue of hope this month in Route 252. This weekend the kids got to do a ministry project for the First Baptist Church in Maryville, Ill. As you probably heard, their pastor was shot and killed a week ago during a Sunday service. What a tragedy! My heart goes out to that congregation and all who have experienced this loss. As you can see by the pictures, the kids made cards and signed a banner to be sent to the children’s pastor and the kids there at First Baptist.
We have been learning all month that Hope is believing that something good can come out of something bad. The kids did an amazing job with this project and it was so good to see them show concern about others. Parents, you ought to be proud of your kids. One boy came up to me and told me he was going to send his hope bracelet that he made a couple of weeks ago in KidzWorld to the children’s pastor at that church. 
Next week in the 252 Theater we will be talking aboute what heaven is like. It ought to be good.
Usually during the week I take some time to look back and think about the weekend here at NewSpring Church.
Here’s what I’m thankful for:
The awesome volunteers we have helping us minister to kids!
Having a staff that believes kid’s ministry is important.
Having a church body that believes kid’s ministry is important. (It’s evident by the excitment about our new preschool building. We revealed the plans during First Wednesday service. You can watch it online.
Having passionate KidzWorld staffers who continually go the extra mile to be able to reach more kids.
Kids that are so excited about coming to KidzWorld that they bring their friends with them.
Having adults who have no children bring other adults down to KidzWorld just to see our environments.
Why is it that when you’re driving and looking for an address, you turn down the volume on the radio?
Why doesn’t glue stick to the inside of the bottle?
Why is “abbreviated” such a long word?
Why is it called lipstick if you can still move your lips?
Why is a boxing ring square?
Why is the word dictionary in the dictionary?
Why isn’t there mouse-flavored cat food?
What was the best thing before sliced bread?
How do “Do not walk on the grass” signs get there?
When you come to KidzWorld you know something fun is going to happen. No one is exempt from getting involved, including our fabulous volunteers. Tonight we got a couple of them involved in a fun game that helped the kids rehearse the memory verse for the month. You can be a part of the fun too. Just go to the volunteer tab at www.newspring.org and let us know that you’re interested.
lifeinakidzworld.com 