Harding Campaign 2009

Within the mix of the past few weeks we had our campaign with Harding University - What a JOY! The group of seven were the right people at the right time to bless our community and support our ministry. Alex and I had pretty much got the school program worked out and we spent the first day getting the group familiar and excited about it. We decided to take a far more hands on and practical approach this year in the school assembly times. We wanted to illustrate and get the message across about three qualities, "Kindness, Faithfulness and Gentleness."

For "Gentleness" we made a table with four handles and had the kids work together to keep the ball from falling off. We taught about the importance of being gentle with our friends. How being harsh or aggressive won't keep the ball on the table, but gentleness does! The kids loved it and the variation in how they handled the task was everything from near perfect teamwork to total chaos!

For "Faithfulness" we made a pair of skis that were made for three. The three chosen kids have to work together in order to get moving in the same direction. We taught about the need to be in agreement with your friends and not to be selfish and want everything your own way. The result of the kids trying the skis was amazing! The whole school was anticipating what would happen next. Some times the kids would work well together, but there were other times when they just would not click and the result was hilarious.

To illustrate "Kindness" we had packages of healthy sweets as gifts which we gave to the teachers who were invited up to the front to receive their gift. In return the teachers were instructed to return the act of kindness by sharing the candy when they got back to class with the kids. As with the other two illustrations we got a huge response from the kids and we were in no doubt that they got message.

Throughout the assembly presentation we went with the theme of "Food Fight" and we had Alex dressed up in a Banana costume representing "Healthy food" and Tyler dressed up in a Hot dog costume representing "Junk Food." At the start of the program we had a tug of war with the Banana coming out on top. Throughout the presentation the Hot dog and Banana would also illustrate how NOT to do the Gentleness and Faithfulness object lessons and the Banana would take the Hot dog aside and help him understand how to be a better friend. Their interaction throughout the assembly was a huge hit with the kids and illustrated really well the message we wanted the kids to get. At the end of the assembly we would get one of the teachers to dress up in the Banana suit and take on the Hot dog in a tug of war. This always got a massive response from the staff and kids.

We had the opportunity to bless over 2000 children with our assembly program and I am confident the whole school community are talking about our time with them. At every school there was a scurry of teachers running to get camera's in order to get some photo's for their various school news letters etc...

The group took a while to adjust their mindset of being able to talk openly about their faith in God and to be able to share with the children some of the Fruit of the Spirit. When we would de-brief after the first couple of schools I would tell the group, "You are not mentioning God's name enough!" After the second or third time out they got the hang of it and were blessed in doing so.

Well that is enough for this one - I will post a few more about some of the other events and focal points we covered during this years great campaign.

God bless!

P.S. A huge thanks to this years group: Tyler, Andrea, Whitley, Katie, Laura and Melanie. Special thanks to Mike Wood for leading the group. You all made a big splash - especially Andrea!