LASER TAG @ LASER KINGDOM - November 15, 2008

Who says Kids in Missions had to be all about doing outreaches. Sure, they are very important as we know, but on Saturday, November 15th we had a great opportunity to have fun together by...shooting each other. I know it doesn't sound very spiritual but for those of you who were there, you can't say you were bored! We spent a rainy afternoon at Laser Kingdom in Farmingdale to bring closure to yet another great year of Kids in Missions. If you missed out, make sure you sign up next year! I know my son Tyler I know had a great time and maybe some day he will be the MVP of Laser Kingdom!

Thanks for coming everyone and we'll see you in 2009!!

GRADUATION DINNER 2008

Kids in Missions 2008 may have come to a close, but we had a great night celebrating what God did in and through us this past year. It was so great to see all of you there and I can speak for Pat and Andrew in saying it was a privilege to hand you your certificates. Whether you were completing your first year, second year or as a Leader in Training or Student leader, I hope and pray you will always be a light in the darkness. I also hope to see you next year as we begin 2009 classes on March 1st.

Don't forget about Lazer Tag coming up November 15th. Sign up if you haven't done so yet!

GRANDPA LOU WAS KIDNAPPED? or was he?

It was time to start packing for our October 4th outreach at Lighthouse Mission in Patchogue. We had our puppet stage, puppet curtains, our object lessons, our CD's, Shelton the Shark, Loudmouth & Cry Baby and Grandpa Lou...uh...where is Grandpa Lou? He must be in the Felowship Center basement. After looking everywhere, still no Grandpa Lou. Maybe he is in the Auditorium on top of the stage? No, still no Grandpa Lou. Maybe I left him in my garage? No, he's not there. Okay, time to retrace our steps. It appears the last time Grandpa Lou was used was at the Jones Beach outreach. Did we leave him there? No, we couldn't have! Maybe just maybe the Seniors at SCS decided to kidnap him and wanted to leave a ransom note. I hopwe they don't want a million dollars, I only have 5 dollars in my wallet. Then, I discovered that we did minister at another outreach between Jones beach and October 3rd. Did we leave him in Brentwood? Should I call that church to find out? Where could he be? Is he protesting that I haven't been using him?
The Royal Rangers packed up the church trailer the night before for a weekend campout in inghampton, NY. Is it possible we left him in the trailer for over a month and a half? Well, after a few quick phone calls I finally got through to Tim Reed, one of our Royal Ranger commanders. "Tim, this is going to sound like a strange question but...did you see anything else in the trailer when you packed it last night, like Granda Lou?" "It was too dark to tell but we did see a box covered with a blanket in the trailer." It had to be Grandpa Lou!


During our outreach my cell phone vibrated and I let it go straight to voicemail. Later, I listened to the message that simply said that Grandpa Lou was alive, well, breathing and in fact at a campout with our Royal Rangers in Binghampton, NY. My only fear...I hope that don;t leave him by the camp fire. HE WILL MELT!

Grandpa Lou's "Home sweet Home" from August 16th to October 5th. Poor Guy!

LIGHTHOUSE MISSION - October 4, 2008

Our final outreach of 2008 was a great one! In spite of taking a scenic route to McDonalds and forgetting puppets (it is impossible to do a puppet show without puppets!) we were able to minister to the children who were bussed into Lighthouse Mission. They loved the dramas, Cry Baby, Shelton the Shark and games at the end. It looks like we will be ministering at Lighthouse Mission many more times in 2009. Please pray for them as they look for a new building and need to leave their present building this December. Great job guys and gals!

LOVE & PRAYER FELLOWSHIP - August 16th

This was our final outreach of the summer of 2008! We started out by going to McDonalds first. In just a 5 minute drive we were at Love & Prayer Fellowship only...no one was there! Were we at the wrong church? A poster on the church door directed us to a park right behind the Brentwood Train Station. After waiting patiently for 90 minutes, running through the blow up obstacle course and sliding down a huge slide, we finally grabbed our gear and did our ministry program. While setting up the puppet stage we realized we forgot the poles for the puppet stage. Ugh! After quick thinking by Kaylee (using scrungees to hold the curtains) we ministered doing Shout to the Lord. God's not dead with the puppets and we closed with You are God. Pastor Dave also had an opportunity to preach. It was his first time preaching with a translator (his spanish speaking skills are lacking. He only knows Feliz Navidad). Thanks everyone (all 12 of you) for being very flexible and for being a blessing!

SMILE FOR THE CAMERA, HEATHER!!

WHO WON? RUSSELL OR RYAN? PHOTO FINISH!!

JONES BEACH - July 30th

What a great night of ministry at Jones Beach. Kids in Missions was the very first ministry that night. Our first year students did a great job with their "Father, Spirit, Jesus" drama
Our second year students were amazing as they did a drama to Jeremy Camp's song "This Man"
Grandpa Lou paid a visit with some help from 3 friends from the audience


and Skip & Priscilla along with Jacob (the guy jumping in the air) got the audience excited by doing "Jump up."

Pastor Rich shared with us this morning that around 12 people gave their hearts to Jesus that night through the EE ministry on the boardwalk. Praise God!!!

STONY BROOK CHRISTIAN ASSEMBLY - Staying dry in the downpour - July 27th

I can't remember the last time we had an outreach where it rained so hard! Driving down Rt. 347 felt like rowing a canoe! What was supposed to be an outdoor event with inflatable slides, bouncers and a dunk tank became an indoor event with about 25 kids in a small children's church area. Regardless of all that, God had a plan and that was to share the Good News with the children who were supposed to be there! Our first year students did "Father, Spirit, Jesus" as a prep for Jones Beach. You all did a great job and we are so proud of you all for your dedication to the Lord. One church attender who used to attend SGT bragged about you all for quite a while on how impressed they were!

OCEAN GROVE, NJ BEACH PAVILION- July 26th

It was a beautiful day in Ocean Grove NJ! The sun was shining, it was a very warm day and best of all you could sense God's presence in a powerful way in the beach pavilion. Our team did an awesome job with the fun songs, dramas and puppet songs throughout our one hour ministry. We had so many positive comments from passerby's and the many who attended. Don Cleaves, the man responsible for the ministry in the pavilion said we have the best program every year. A nice compliment! We also enjoyed hanging out at Day's Ice Cream for a break after the ministry as well as McDonalds especially the playground.

CAMBRIA HEIGHTS GOSPEL CHAPEL: QUEENS, NY - JUNE 21st

This was our first trip to Cambria Heights Gospel Chapel and their first attempt at hosting an outdoor event they called Children's Day. All in all it was a great day. The kids absolutely loved our Castle Bounce! They also played various games and even tried having a Double Dutch competition. Best of all we were privileged to share the gospel with those who were there, also to those who walked past the church on Linden Blvd. and stopped to see the puppets, dramas and object lessons. Great job guys and gals! We look forward to a long lasting relationship with the great folks at Cambria Heights. Thanks also to our parents volunteers Mr. Robinson, Mrs. Mulligan and Mrs. Sands!

SMITHTOWN FESTIVAL DAY 2008 - Beating the Heat!!!

It had to be the hottest day in the history of Smithtown Festival Day, but in spite of that, we had an awesome day of ministry. Over 400 frisbee's were handed out, tons of balloons and flyers were distributed, but best of all, many people gave their lives to Christ at the Prayer Station! Thank you so much parents for volunteering your time for this event. These parents include Mrs. Fallon, Mrs Bellini, Mr. & Mrs. Chalgren, Mrs. Gaudio, Mrs. Sheridan & Mr. Frey. Thanks also to Jordan, Kaylee,Jacob & Jeremy for always being faithful every outreach. This had to be one of the smoothest Smithtown Day's in our ten plus years of participating. Thank you all for making it happen. Great job everyone!!

p.s. A company across the street took a picture of you guys doing "You are God" and graciously gave us a copy. Look at photo above!

TOWN OF SMITHTOWN MEMORIAL DAY PARADE

We could not have asked for a more gorgeous day with sunny skies, a slight wind and many energetic Kids in Missions, Missionettes, Royal Rangers, Rainbows and the SCS Cheerleaders. We had such an awesome representation from our church! We also had some very talented carpenters who built our tree house float which helped us advertise our upcoming VBS this coming July. Our Kids in Missions kids handed out well over 800 frisbees along the parade route, which by the way were ALL given out half way through the parade. As our float went down Main Street in Smithtown, we had music playing declaring the name of Jesus as our puppeteers Jordan Kaylee, Tyler and Jeremy lip synced to the music. Thanks everyone for your involvement. This was our 18th parade!!

THE ARBORS - First Outreach for many!!

God opened an incredible door for us last Sunday as we ministered in a Nursing Home in Islandia, NY, a stones throw from the good ole LIE! Not only were there many residents from the home in attendance, but many family members as well. Our students did some fun songs as well as our dramas "Shout the the Lord" and "You are God." Skip and Priscilla also paid a visit along with Shelton and Grandpa Lou. Our puppeteers also performed "God's Not Dead." For all of our first year students, this was a first taste of a Kids in Missions outreach and a great experience! The Staff at the Arbors treated us to some Ice cream ( I don't know too many kids who would turn that away!) Great job guys and girls! We still have a lot of work to do but we are headed in the right direction!

BRENTWOOD POLICE DEPT. PBJ EXTRAVAGANZA!

Hi everyone! This is Pat Loparo - First year teacher. We had a great night last night at the Brentwood Police Department. We had 18 kids helping out (8 were first year students) and together we made well over 1,000 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. These sandwiches are going to be delivered to the Lighthouse Mission in Patchogue to many of the homeless here on Long Island. We joined forces with some local Boy Scouts and the Police Explorer program. I have to say we certainly had a lot of fun but we also experienced seeing peanut butter all over the place. I think we all lost any appetite whatsoever for PBJ (Peanut butter & jelly). It was great seeing you all serve the Lord. Thanks for helping out. You were a blessing!!

PAT LOPARO

GLOBAL CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES

Wow! What a great day of ministry. Besides getting there late, being greeted by an Easter bunny, a clown and tons of people. We were able to cram our puppet stage onto their tiny stage, do some fun songs. Even in spite of the wacky sound problems, many hand went up for the first time to receive the Lord Jesus as savior and Lord! Great job guys and girls!
Speaking of sound problems, I am so glad Jordan and Kaylee know Sin Protection by heart and were able to voice the characters. Next time, we use OUR sound equipment!

Only 5 more days!

It's so hard to believe that we are 5 days away from our first classes of 2008. We are already receiving phone calls about outreaches for the coming months! It is exciting to see God's hand in this ministry. I am lookning forward to working with you all!

Pastor Dave

2008 is here

Kids in Missions is looking forward to another great year of ministry. We are eagerly anticipating what God has in store for us. We are also anxious to see who the Lord will send our way as far as students, new dramas and new ideas. Please check back wioth us and checkour our posts after each rehearsal, outreaches and service projects.



PASTOR DAVE HARFF