Rob spoke a few weeks ago about the need for families to bring their kids to 8:30 service. Several families decided to serve the whole church by meeting this need through and attending first service! We are so grateful to those families who sacrificed and came early. Not only did the switch improve the 8:30 service but made a difference in 10 o’clock service hour as well.  Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Last year we averaged 12 3^rd -5^th graders but this past Sunday we had 23! This might be the largest group we have seen for that age group EVER during first hour! We are thrilled with how God is working.

I continually stand in awe of what God does. Balancing the numbers for the two services is just one more thing that only God can do and I am so proud to be part of the process. What a great start! Thank you to those of you who took the challenge head on and made a commitment to come to first service.

My excitement is not because we have the best curriculum around (even though we do!!) or because we have a great building. My excitement is due to what I have seen God doing in the lives of our kids. The impact our volunteers have had on kids has forever change their lives! Our volunteers are amazing and I am so grateful for each person. One of the biggest impacts they have is from developing intentional relationships with the kids.

In 1^st-5^th grade our hope is to have small groups where the children can come and meet with the same mentor week after week, who really cares about them. Mentors get to focus on building relationships with the kids; the curriculum, activities, and projects are all supplied for them.

The “win” is to have kids see God in relationships developed in their small groups. God is actively at work in these groups. God is working through the mentors not because each mentor has their whole life put together but they listen. Would you like to join us living out Jesus to children, through becoming a mentor?

If so contact Bethany Brush at bbrush@southsidefellowship.org or (864) 234 – 7033 Ext. 1517

Does check-in leave you feeling flustered on Sunday mornings? Does the phrase “please visit a manned kiosk” make you want to run screaming from the building?

If so, here are a few helpful tips that will allow you to breeze through check-in like a pro:

• We love for your kids to push the buttons on the screens but we need you with them while they have their fun.
  • Why? Because the kids are enjoying the freedom of “doing it by myself” and not looking at what they are checking in to.
  • What does that do? Because the check-in computer can only go by what it’s told, it believes kids are actually in the rooms they checked in to when they really may not have gone to that room at all. If you are only here for 1 service but your kids are checked in to 2 services, the computer won’t know you left. Or, if you are here for 2 services but the kids are only checked in to 1, we won’t know where you are.
  • So? A child may not be able to check in to the room they normally attend because an “invisible” kid may be in that spot.
  • How do you let the computer know what service(s) you are here for? Touch the “Change Classes” button under your kid’s name and make sure there is a check mark next to the service hour they will be with us that morning.
• Seeing those smiling faces walking down the halls puts a spring in our step and we want the kids to get to know the same leaders and friends each week. So when those labels print take a look at the room number for your kid and make sure it matches the number on the outside of the door you take them to.
  • Why? Because we want Fellowship Kids to be a safe and happy place. Too many kids in a room can be a safety problem in case of an emergency.

Still not sure about the whole check-in thing? Ask us. We love helping you so you have a better morning!

How do we teach our kids what a life of integrity looks like? Sure, we can tell them not to cheat on tests and be others-minded. But, have you ever stopped and thought about the subtle ways we as parents may minimize integrity? Instead of allowing our kids to face uncomfortable circumstances from their actions, we tell them not to do it again or we blame someone else.  We parents can help foster integrity in our kids by being aware of the pitfalls they are exposed to.  Listen to what they are talking about. Don’t just accept what the kids say; do the research yourself. Talk to your kids and keep communication open.

Remember, kids catch more than they are told. Examine your heart first and see if you are living with integrity.

Here is an example from Yahoo Answers you can use to ask your child about integrity:

“Is downloading Installous on iPod touch 2G Cydia illegal? Will I get fined or something?

I was on Cydia and I was in sources and clicked add and added http://cydia. hackulo.us and when I clicked ok this popped up.

Source warning
This repository has been reported by the community to be illegally redistributing copyright works.
We cannot stop you from using it, but we can (and do) recommend moral introspection and caution.

Download anyway or cancel

What does this mean? Nothing? Something? What am I supposed to do?

Will I get arrested or something? I just jail broke it last night so I’m really confused..
What do I do?”

Click here to read the answer given by Yahoo Answers http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090620111831AANLnTN

Many families find themselves running from one thing to another in a hectic schedule that makes the days, weeks and months slip by with no purpose. This happens almost unknowingly when we go from the holidays right into the new year. In our home with four children, the wakeup call happens when we realize we are snapping at each other constantly and our time together is absent of joy.

One thing I have learned recently is that if we do not look for ways to serve others, our time and energy will be used to please and entertain ourselves. This is a cycle we need to avoid but how?

Our family had the opportunity to join a group of other families who are feeding the homeless downtown and while it hasn’t instantly cured all of our issues at home, it has helped us to be more grateful as we focus on others. I am confident it will have a lasting positive effect as we continue to serve together.

Look for ways your family can serve others. There are all kinds of opportunities if you really look for them. Help a neighbor or friend by running errands for them or watching their kids while they run errands. Adopt a nursing home that you visit regularly. Pray about it and see what happens.

If you have other ideas, share them here.

The Nursery area wins our very first ever Master’s Lock Award for having the tightest security in Fellowship Kids. If you have a child in the nursery, or even if you don’t, take a second on Sunday to thank those volunteers for their commitment to making our children more secure.

The new Fellowship Kids check-in system has brought advantages that most people would not be aware of unless they could see behind the scenes. Hours spent on making nametags and getting them to the right rooms can now be spent on other aspects of ministry. We can accurately track numbers, better connect with guests and plan for problem areas.

But the best part of the new system is the added security. Hopefully as a parent or volunteer you feel encouraged to know that our children our safe.

You might ask “How safe are they?”

Over the last six weeks, every roll sheet has been turned into the Fellowship Kids office where I have gone through them and looked for matching parent and roll tags to see how well we are doing with this new security system. As a former Math teacher, I can’t resist a good spreadsheet with accurate data. I have found that 98% of the roll tags have a matching parent tag, which is excellent considering some Sundays we have over 450 children in Fellowship Kids.

Thanks to all the volunteers and parents who have helped make our children safe.

- Rob Marks

With the increasing number of cases of the H1N1 Flu being reported and predicted around the nation, we will be adding to our normal disease prevention procedures at Southside as follows:

1. The placement of non-alcohol hand sanitizers at multiple locations around the building including all of the rest rooms, children’s rooms, check-in and registration locations, and other strategic locations.  We will include having them available at several locations in the office areas as well.
2. Fellowship Kids rooms will remove toys such as plastic food and dish sets to help prevent spreading germs through contact.
3. All toys will be sprayed after use with a Clorox solution and tables will be wiped down before and after use.

As we take steps to provide a healthful environment for your children, we ask that you follow our Child Wellness Policy below.

Upon recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics, a child should be kept at home if he or she has any of the following symptoms:

Fever, vomiting, diarrhea, runny nose (accompanied by any other symptom), unexplained rash, sore throat, croup, skin infection (boils, ringworm, lice), any symptom of childhood disease (such as scarlet fever, measles, mumps, rubella, active chicken pox or whooping cough), conjunctivitis (pink eye), or other eye infection.

A child must be free of symptoms for at least 24 hours before coming to our care.  If a child develops any symptoms of illness while in our care, the parent will be contacted to take the child home.

Children, birth – 2nd grade, who are registered for more than one service should have all the rooms they are assigned to show up on the check in screen each Sunday.  We have noticed that sometimes only 1 room shows up on the check in screen. Here is what is happening: the computer remembers what the child was checked into the week before. If a child is only checked in to one service on the previous Sunday they were here, then the computer will only show the last room they were checked in to.

If the child does need to stay more than 1 service, the parent needs to touch the Change Classes button under that child’s name.

Select the service hours the child will be attending that morning.

This will happen any time a child is only here for one of the services they are registered for.

Often times we dads don’t want to admit the role we play in our children’s lives because the responsibility seems more than we can handle. Plus for many of us, building into our children just doesn’t seem to come natural. The fact is, as much as we may want to strategically guide our boys who mysteriously look up to us, we lack the knowledge of how to do it since it was likely not modeled for us with our own fathers.

As a father of three boys, I am always on the look out for ways to connect with my boys. Maybe it is something simple like including them in a project or just wrestling on the floor.

The upcoming Knights of Adventure Father/Son Campout is coming up on Sept. 25-27. This weekend provides a great opportunity to spend quality time with your son. You can register for the event on the Southside Fellowship website.

Even if camping isn’t your thing, here is a book you can read with your son. It is called The Squire and the Scroll

 This book is a short adventure story about a young squire and his battle to keep a pure heart. I have read it with my boys and they absolutely loved it. It makes a great read aloud story at bedtime but you can take it a step further and use it as a teaching tool.

There is also an additional resource guide that goes along with the book that will help you teach your son about guarding his own heart. It is very simple to use and doesn’t take a lot of preparation time.

You can get more information about The Squire and the Scroll and order all the material at their website. 

The Squire and the Scroll

Take some time to invest in your son, the results are worth it!

• Memorize the last four digits of your phone number – many people freeze when they get to the screen as they have to say their whole phone number in their head to get the last four digits.
• Choose the right kiosk – 280 of the 463 kids last Sunday were checked in through the two kiosks in the Preschool lobby while one of the kiosk on the east side only saw 40. There are 6 stations in different locations. Any child can be checked in at any kiosk. Click Check-in Online Registration locations for a map of locations
• Arrive early – allowing yourself a little more time for the check-in process will reduce your stress since most people don’t arrive 15 minutes early.
• Switch services – if you are attending the 10:00 service, you might want to consider switching to the 8:30 time where it is much less crowded. Less than 1/3 of our kids attend the 8:30 service.