To finish out 2022 Semester Slice stories we will be visiting our Children’s Ministry and asking some important questions of our young students. Rachael Adams, Director of Children’s Ministries, reported that the children are learning about the Old Testament. KidZone (Wednesday night children’s activities) is studying Judges and Children’s Church is studying Genesis. In Sunday school, the older two classes are studying in Numbers and Joshua and the youngest class is in Genesis.

      One of the questions that that we wanted parents to ask their children was: What are your children’s favorite Bible characters/stories that they have studied and why?   

      Octavio Moncada said, “Ezra’s favorite Bible character is Zacchaeus because he was very short and wanted to see Jesus preach and after dinner with him, Zacchaeus repented and gave half of his wealth away.” Tobin Moncada responded, “My favorite Bible character is Moses because he led the nation of Israel out of Egypt with great power and might and caused Pharoah’s army to drown in the Red Sea.” Erika McCoy asked her son, Harvey who his favorite Bible character was and he responded, “Noah and Jesus. Noah because he saved the animals and I love animals. Jesus because he saved us by dying on the cross for our sins.” Heather Lorenzetti said that Jensen “really liked studying the plagues because he thought it was really interesting what God chose to happen to Egypt, he was not expecting some of the things that happened. Moses and Aaron are pretty interesting.” Shields Lorenzetti said, “Samson was my favorite person to learn about. I like the power that he has because it is a gift from God. I also like the blind beggar story when Jesus spread mud over his eyes and told him to wash it off in the river and he could see again and it was one of Jesus’ miracles!” Lori Funk said, Lincoln, her son, picked “Jesus because he loves me.”

      The responses to the next question, “What are your favorite games at KidZone?” were varied but each child’s answer included something about how Eric Adams makes things special and fun. Ezra Moncada liked hockey because ”he felt like a Jedi from Star Wars” but his brother Tobin differed saying, “Baseball was his favorite because Mr. Eric plays pitcher the whole time and it

is a running around sport.” Jenson Lorenzetti says his favorite game is kickball. “There’s a lot of challenge in where to kick it so somebody can’t catch it. Also, we can only take one base at a time so the game lasts longer.” (Mr. Eric’s rule.) Shields replied, “My favorite game is bowling. It uses a lot of brain power and strategy and you have to have good accuracy too.” Harvey McCoy said, “My favorite game is kickball and sometimes Mr. Eric rolls 2-3 balls at a time and I love running.” Lincoln Funk said, “I spy with my little eye and racing” were his favorite games.

      Erika and Jordein McCoy see the growth and benefit of Children’s Ministry in watching their son Harvey’s prayer life grow. “Harvey wants to lead prayer time and asks for prayers for others.” Both parents think this is remarkable and give credit to Children’s Ministry in bringing out the willingness and self-engagement in prayer. Octavio Moncada shared, “I am seeing the boys grow in their knowledge of the Bible and finding characters they enjoy and identify with. It also gives us an opportunity to talk about how their time in class went and discover what they learned.”   Heather Lorenzetti shared, “Jim and I are encouraged to see our boys digging in the Word through the lessons and also the KidZone memory verse work. Maybe best of all, every week Jenson and Shields are interacting with loving and dedicated adults who model serving the Lord with gladness. We pray that example rubs off on our boys!”   

      Children’s Ministry KidZone had their store on December 7th. The students were able to earn points by attending and memorizing Bible verses. They are able twice a year to spend those points on toys and gifts for others.  Thank you, Children’s Ministry, for all you do for Gashland EPC!