The Family Table

WinterCON: Deadline Approaching!

Students in grades 6-12, you’re invited to join us March 13-15 at WinterCON, a conference that will encourage you to go deeper in your walk with God and grow your ability to live out your faith in your everyday life. Taking place at the Kalahari Resort in the Poconos, one of the largest indoor water parks in the country, you’re sure to have a meaningful and fun weekend with us! Abe and Jordyn Skacel are planning to lead the group from LEFC. For more information, visit the website and see the FAQ sheet that you may have received in your church mailbox. If interested in attending, please let Jordyn know by the end of the day tonight, February 1st. For more information, email [email protected].

Family Ministries Book Fair: Happening Now!

For the first three Sundays in February (1st, 8th, 15th), Family Ministries will be operating a book fair after church in the former MOPS room across from the fellowship hall. Come leaf through an array of trusted resources from parenting and marriage books to kids board books and submit an order form of picks to equip you for disciple-making in your home. We will then order the items for you and distribute them when they arrive. The most exciting part is that you’ll get them at a discount, as Family Ministries will cover a percentage of the price for you so that our families can get solid material in their hands. We’ll even have fun little items for kids to purchase, so be sure they bring their quarters! Check it out after church one Sunday!

Homeschool Support

Attention homeschooling families! Would you be interested in a homeschool group right here in the West Branch area? With several homeschooling families in our church and others who are considering it for the future, we want to support and provide opportunities for you. If you have any interest in homeschool support, whether navigating the “how-to’s”, attending events and field trips, or opportunities for your child to learn from professionals, please respond to this email to indicate your interest and let us know what would be helpful for you. Talk to Vicky Albert or Jordyn Skacel if you have questions!

Challenge 2026

Challenge is a biennial youth conference hosted by our national denomination, the EFCA. Teens from around the country will gather to worship, learn, serve, and have a blast in Kansas City, MO this July 11-14. Registration is now open for all students grades 6 and up, including seniors. Talk to Cody or Holly Crumrine if interested and secure your spot by March 15th!

Egg Hunt at the Ark Park 2026

Save the date for this year’s Egg Hunt at the Ark Park on Saturday, April 4th at 10:00am!

This Week’s Challenge: Taking Steps of Faith to Share Your Faith

Have you ever shared your faith with someone? Have you explained the gospel to them or shared your testimony? What about inviting someone into a relationship with Jesus? For some, this might feel daunting, or like a topic that just isn’t talked about with nonbelieving friends. Others may have the desire, but feel inexperienced or timid about doing so. I (Jordyn) have had spiritual conversations and shared the gospel hundreds of times, mostly during my time in college ministry, and yet I still feel nervous when doing so. This week’s challenge is to take a step of faith to share your faith in some way with an family member or friend, and encouraging your kids to do it, too. This could be as simple as sharing with someone a way that God has answered a prayer of yours and asking them how you can pray for them, or it could be as far as explaining the gospel to that friend who is always curious what the church is up to. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, but challenge yourself to take just one small but significant step for you this week. Need resources? Consider using the GodTools app, referenced before in The Family Table, or check out Four Fantastic Facts, which can be found in the church foyer or online.

“The Walls Rebuilt” Kids Bible Class Devotional

You have free access to a family devotional based on the curriculum our kids are studying each week in KBC! It’s called “The Gospel Project at Home.” Today’s Bible Study is “The Walls Rebuilt” (Volume 6: Unit 18: Session 1), and the devotional can be found at this link.

Visit the Family Ministries page on our website for information about how to access The Gospel Project at Home for the first time.

And for Dessert…

Our recommendation for family discipleship this week is a terrific little book with helpful answers to the tricky questions that kids often ask about Heaven.

This week, I (Pastor Matt) am headed to the EFCA Theology Conference near Chicago. The theme of our conference this year is the eternal realities of both Hell and Heaven–which is something we often don’t think enough about.

But kids often do, and they also ask great questions, especially about Heaven:

Why should we look forward Heaven?
What can we know about Heaven?
Is Heaven a real place?
Do people in Heaven remember life on Earth?
Is God going to destroy the earth and make a different one from scratch?
Will we become angels in Heaven?
Will we be allowed to have or do what we really, really want?
Will there be families in Heaven?
Will we see our pets again on the New Earth?
Will Heaven ever be boring?
Will there be sports?
Will we have to work in Heaven?
How can we know what Heaven is like if we’ve never seen it?

Randy Alcorn has done a lot of solid thinking about questions like this (check out his big book on Heaven from the church library), and he and his co-author, Linda Washington, have formulated short, fun, readable answers for dozens of questions kids often ask. It’s really well done.

There is a lot we don’t know about Heaven. Sometimes we have to do a little speculation. Alcorn does a terrific job of indicating which of his answers come directly from the Bible, which ones are extrapolations from what the Bible says, and which ones are good guesses based on what we know for sure.

This book could be read a little bit at a time by a family each night during family devotions or dipped into as a reference work–turning directly to the questions your kids are asking. I highly recommend it.

I’d be happy to loan you my copy of Heaven for Kids or you might want to order your own in the Family Ministries Book Fair. It’s only $8!

May the Lord bless your families as you seek to follow Him.

Jordyn Skacel, Director of Family Ministry
Matt Mitchell, Pastor