Have
you ever thought of the best way to put Jesus Christ first at Christmas? The
commercialization of the "Holiday Season" hardly promotes an opportunity to see
Jesus through the glitter. After all, His Incarnation is the "reason for the
season". Children's Ministry International (CMI) Director Brad Winsted has
written a thought provoking article "REDEEMING
CHRISTMAS" to help ensure that the Son of God is not left out of your
holiday plans.
Additionally,
CMI wants to help your church or family make this increasingly difficult task
easier this year. The Advent Season corresponds to the post-Thanksgiving
"Holiday" Season, but with a BIG difference. Your family can follow the family
tree of Christ from the Creation throughout the Old Testament to Christ's birth
by using CMI's "JESUS'
FAMILY TREE - Advent Family Devotions" Advent series for $29.00. By having
a special story everyday about the coming Messiah and putting a symbol
(provided) on a "Jesse Tree" or family tree, you can bring the Incarnation
stories home to your family. Not only will your family understand how the
coming Messiah is presented throughout the Old Testament, but they will
understand the unity of Redemption throughout Scripture.
CMI has also produced an
Advent Jesse Tree
special coloring book for your children. This is an excellent way the many
stories will be reinforced and remembered. Kids love to express themselves by
coloring what they have just learned with all the stories and symbols they see
on the "Jesse Tree".
For
your church, CMI has a special four week lesson guide by the same name (without
the reference to Family Devotions) for only $25.00. This booklet has symbols
for a "Jesse Tree"
and an accompanying devotion guide and smaller symbols for children in a
classroom setting. The coloring book would also fit nicely with these lessons.
Whichever book (family or for the church) you choose you can take special
advantage to this email by using our Christmas Season online coupon, (put
discount coupon) which allows for a 10% savings if you order by
email or
online.
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CMI Teachers Return from Panama!
For
the past 23 years, Children's Ministry International (CMI) has taught Mission to
the World (MTW) children at their regional training conference from our "Bible
Building Blocks of the Faith" curriculum, while the children's missionary
parents are hearing other conference/seminar speakers. This year the MTW (the
missionary arm of the Presbyterian Church in America) conference was for
missionaries from Latin America so this past October 14 CMI teachers went to a
beachfront hotel 2 hours west of Panama City, Panama in order to instruct MTW
children from ages 4 to 12 years old.
About half of our teachers were teenagers or young adults in their early
twenties who have taught CMI in the past and were excited about going on a
"short term mission trip". The teachers had to raise their travel funds to
come through their friends and churches.
The
Series topic we used this year was "Series
O: HE IS COMING AGAIN". This recently rewritten series deals with
questions and answers about Christ's coming again to judge the world. Hell,
heaven and judgment are discussed in detail. There were lots of songs, Bible
verses, crafts and memory verses to help the children grasp these important
topics. On the last full day of the conference, the children present a complete
assembly where all of the memory verses were quoted, the songs sung and the
theological questions answered. As in the past, the parents could hardly
believe their children had learned so much in such a short (one week) period of
time.
CMI enjoys conducting these annual conferences because not only do we minister
to the missionary children and allow their parents to concentrate on their
ministry business, but an added benefit is that the parents of these missionary
children, often get excited about the lessons and want to translate them into
the language they are working in as a means of reaching the children with the
basics of the Gospel. So far national workers assisting the Mission to the
World missionaries have helped CMI to translate our "Bible Building Blocks of
the Faith " into Spanish, Swedish, Russian, Bulgarian and Arabic. We are hoping
to soon start work in Japanese and French.
Order now by using this coupon number
ADVENT06 to get a 10% discount
when ordering through the internet.
For the children,
Brad Winsted, Director
