Kids Quest Online

From this point forward, we’re not calling the portables buildings… portables. We’re calling it the Kids Quest Backyard. It’s fun, it’s for kids and it actually is in our backyard. The backyard will feature four environments for kids 3.5 years through kindergarten and can provide space for up to 120 kids. WOW!

Okay, here is where we need your help. In keeping with all things Kids Quest, we’re creating exciting environments that capture the imagination of our kids. We have a muralist painting the walls. Although we know our themes, we don’t know what we’re going to call them. Let me show you the inspiration of our themes (this is not exactly what the murals will look like, just what our artist is starting with as an idea) and some final instructions. We’d love to have your help in naming our new space.

Tree House

Jungle

Under Water

City Street

Okay, so all of our room names are two words that start with the same letter. Kind of like Bubble Babies, Kid’s Kingdom or Asteroid Ally. So, in keeping with the rest of the environments, we need fun and engaging room names that describe these themes. Give us your ideas. Who knows, we might pick your idea as the name for our newest and most exciting spaces! Just reply with your ideas in the comments.

Since I started this blog many months ago, you’ve been hearing me talk about the portables. Many of you have wondered if these things would ever come. Well, they have and they’re coming along beautifully. The thought of doing portable buildings is always a little scary simply because they’re UGLY! The portable units we picked out were as ugly as they come. I must admit though, with a fresh coat of paint matching our existing buildings, I think they’re the best looking portables I’ve seen. Don’t they look awesome?

We’re set to open on Sunday, January 4th. Right now the decking, ramps and stairs are being finished while the inside is getting new flooring, new walls and more (basically a full overhaul. Next week a muralist will being creating the unique environment of each of these spaces so our kids will have the same experience as they would in any of our other rooms. We’ll keep you posted as progress continues to be made!

For the past 3 weeks we’ve been teaching the elementary aged kids about connecting with God, moment by moment. Instead of using beeping watches, we’ve used our “don’t forget” sticky notes. This last week I’ve heard some fun and encouraging stories from parents about how their kids are using the sticky notes to connect with God… and having fun doing it. A lot of the kids are also figuring out what their parent’s beeping watches are about as well and participating as well.

Do you have a story to tell? We’d love to hear it. If your kids are participating in the 60-60 either through your beeping watch, their beeping watch or just the “don’t forget” sticky notes, will you tell us your story? How have your kids responded? What has their experience been like? How has this been a family experience? Feel free to write about it as a response to this post or just email me your story at kenny_conley@gatewaychurch.com. We want these stories to encourage other parents (and even those who aren’t parents) that this idea of connecting with God truly is for everyone!

The Austin Duck has served us well. This Sunday will be the last Sunday we’ll have the Austin Duck as a shuttle bus. The bus we have been using has some other commitments and it’s getting a little cold to depend on an open air shuttle. We hope to bring the bus back when the warmer weather arrives.

However, since there are not guarantees, be sure to ride the bus this Sunday, especially if you haven’t experienced it yet. We will continue to operate our other shuttles both this week and most likely until the end of the year. So, it certainly helps open up parking spaces if your willing to park in the offsite shuttle lot.

Gateway currently has thousands of people participating in Soul Revolution and the 60-60 experiment. In the planning process, we began asking ourselves how the kids could even participate. Certainly they aren’t going to read the book, and every kid isn’t necessarily going to have a watch that beeps. However, we wanted to create a way that our kids could be involved. Staying connected to God moment by moment is a great discipline to develop and can even begin at an early age.

So, we created Soul Revolution Post-It notes. If you’re elementary aged child attended last weekend, he or she should have received a pack of 25 Post-It notes like the one below.

I’ve already heard stories of how kids are using the notes and have had fun with this. Other kids are still a little confused about it all. So if you are doing the 60-60 and your child doesn’t quite understand, this would be a great opportunity to do this together.

Basically we’ve communicated to the kids that God wants to have a friendship with us, a close friendship. However, because of our busy lives, we often forget that God is with us all the time. Sometimes we need reminders. The "Don’t Forget" card is a reminder. There are 25 notes in a pack, so be sure to put one of these notes in places where you’ll see it all throughout your day. Maybe in your desk at school, on the bottom corner of the TV or computer screen, on the bathroom mirror, on the window of the car beside where you usually sit. The idea is that when you see it, you remember that God is here and that he wants to be your friend. Feel free to talk to him or just be quiet and listen to him. Most importantly, just think about him for a few seconds. How easy is that?

So, if your child didn’t get one of these, be sure to pick one up this Sunday!