The Family Table

Feeding the Faith of LEFC Families

TFT: Electro Pickle?

January 7, 2024

Dear LEFC Parents,

Here are some key things to know as you lead your kids in family discipleship in 2024:

New Leaders in Family Ministries

Holly Crumrine, Jordyn Skacel, and Vicky Albert have begun serving as the Interim Family Ministries Leadership Team while we continue our search for a part-time Director of Family Ministry. If you have questions, ideas, or concerns about ministry to children, youth, and parents, please see one of them.

Family Discipleship Conference at Pathway Church

Registration is open for the family discipleship conference at Pathway Church in Beaver Falls (January 13, 9:00-2:00) and all parents are invited. The cost is only $20 for individuals or $30 for a couple which includes lunch, and they are offering a childcare option (requested donation $10/kid). Our Family Ministries Interim Leadership Team is offering 75% scholarships for families for whom this may be a hardship. See Holly, Jordyn, or Vicky for more information.

The Gospel Project at Home 

Today’s Bible Study is “The Disciples Replaced Judas” (Volume 10: Unit 29: Session 2). Ask your kids what they learned in Kids Bible Class this morning and/or do the family devotional you can find at this link.

Challenge Conference – Advanced Planning

The 2024 Challenge Conference has been announced for July 1-5 in Kansas City. We’d love to send a group from LEFC as we have in past years. To do that we need interested youth (grades 7-12) and willing adult leaders. That seems like a long time from now, but it will be here before we know it. (Read more about Challenge on the official conference website.)

Snack and Yack

When the auditorium empties after worship, girls and boys (grades 3ish-7ish) who listened to the sermon (remember to fill out a handout!) are invited to Pastor Matt’s office for a tasty treat and a brief discussion with one of the LEFC elders and their wives (and sometimes guest preachers?!) about the message.

And for dessert…

Our recommended resource for family discipleship this week is a set of fun devotional experiments from the trusted folks at Focus on the Family.

The introduction to “Kinda Dangerous Family Devotions” says:

“It’s happened to all of us. Your family sits down for devotion time, you’re ready to share Biblical truths, aaand…they’re not paying attention. You ask them what they thought, and they barely remember a thing you just said. It’s enough to make you want to smash a watermelon!

What if this was the year that your kids actually looked forward to family devotions? This free 4-part series will help you make devotions exciting for your kids. Tim Shoemaker, author of The Very Best, Hands-On, Kinda Dangerous Family Devotions, will guide you through four experiments and the lessons they’ll teach. Your kids won’t be yawning when you electrocute a pickle!”

Focus on the Family has provided 4 video-based lessons for free:

Episode #1: Electro Pickle
Episode #2: Take a Stab at Kindness
Episode #3: TP Blaster
Episode #4: Watermelon Drop  

Each video comes with discussion questions, a Scripture verse, a prayer, and links to additional resources for digging deeper.

Please let us know what happened at your family table when you electrocuted your pickles.

Matt Mitchell, Pastor
Holly Crumrine, Family Table Editor

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EXPLAINER: THE GOSPEL PROJECT AT HOME

For the last several years, our Children’s Church ministry has utilized The Gospel Project as our Bible study curriculum. The Gospel Project is really excellent–it takes our Little Learners and Bible Explorers chronologically through the whole Bible over the course of three years while always focusing on Jesus as the center of the big story. If your student was in Little Learners or Bible Explorers this morning, they received a coloring page and take-home sheet that corresponds to this lesson. You have also been given a full-color Big Picture Card that you can use to reinforce the lesson with your child, as well.

To reinforce what your kids are learning each week in Children’s Church, you can now access The Gospel Project At Home online. Each week in this email, there will be a link to follow to get this free resource which includes:

1. A guide to using the Gospel Project at Home.
2. Scripture to read and discuss with a recap video of the Bible Story (Preschool and/or Elementary).
3. Scripture memory verses and a song to sing together.
4. Prayer prompts and family activities that correspond to the lesson.

Please consider setting aside at least 10-15 minutes once a week for a family devotional time using this resource as a guide. We are hoping The Gospel Project At Home will help keep all of our LEFC kids “on the same page,” and feed their faith in Jesus.

This might be especially helpful if for some reason your child has to miss a week of Children’s Church. You can show them the Bible story video to keep them up to speed on what the other children are learning.

**Note: The first time you access the link, you will need to register a free account with Lifeway’s Ministry Grid. This will also provide you ongoing access through the “training” tab to many other discipleship resources including the Gospel Project at Home for previous weeks. Many hours of excellent things to absorb for free!