The Epic Shack

Sunday is going to be a pretty stupendous day for North Side.

First, this is the Sunday before school starts which normally means that everyone comes off of summer vacation and comes to church all on the same day.  Normally, this is the largest day attendance wise next to Easter all year.  So, we look forward to seeing everyone together tomorrow!

Second, Epic is kicking off a whole new strategy this Sunday this is going to be absolutely amazing!  The set that we have been working on is called the Epic Shack.  If you are wondering who did that amazing architectural design to your left, it was none other than me.  I know, I have a future in that field.

Polly, Joshua, Lee Ann, and myself brainstormed on how to make a set that could last all year and we came up with the Epic Shack.  Below are pictures of the wonderful construction that happened this week (much props to Dennis, Steve G., Casey, and Fred) and the fabulous painting (yeah Polly, Griff, Hannah, Taylor, and Joshua).

The set for our children’s worship, Epic, is based around a house where a set of characters live.  Each week, different characters might come out of the house and help teach the lesson, do the skit, or lead the learning game.  The door will open, you can see through the windows, and walk through the garage.

The Epic praise team will also being playing out of the garage.  Where else could the new Garage Band play?

While this concept started on a piece of notebook paper, we are so grateful to our talented team who made it a reality.  God has truly gifted them for this task!

The curriculum is absolutely fantastic!  When Polly came to our staff, we got blessed with even more that what I expected!  Polly, Jeff, Jamie, and myself got together months ago and brainstormed what do we need to teach our 1-5 graders.

One of the major problems with the majority of children’s curriculum is that it attempts to teach too much, and what it does teach is focused on simply teaching Bible stories.  Bible stores aren’t bad.  But when teachers jump from story to story without teaching children the context of the larger story (God’s plan from beginning to end), they are confused.  They leave elementary school (and high school for that matter) without a biblical worldview.

So we set down and tried to figure out how to simplify the Bible into ten truths or “pegs.”

Our children will be taught with the first peg for the first few weeks, then they will move to the next

In fact, this is what they will be taught every year, but just packaged a little differently.

Polly worked on developing the lessons with the help of Lee Ann Starnes.  Joshua Kirby has been writing sketches.  Now, it seems like it is all coming together.  From worship to the kids’ C-Groups to what parents will take home, everything on Sunday will try to drive home the first peg.

The first peg is:

CREATION – It’s all about God.

Before you ever teach a child or anyone about the beginning of the world, you need to understand a simple truth: it’s all about God.

You, me, this world, our relationships, our job, our churches.  It’s all about God.  In fact, there is nothing that isn’t about God.

If an elementary student can learn that the world isn’t about them but it’s about God, think about the difference that will make in their lives.

If you aren’t planning on going to Epic this Sunday, you should at least check out the set.  But also, you should ask one of our kids this week what they learned.

Hopefully, you will begin to hear kids state over and over: it’s all about God.