​Dear RF Friends,
 
On Sunday in RF, we finished up the 9-week series on the Fruits of the Spirit by looking at James 3:1-6 and discussing self-control.  Our words have power.  James uses practical images like a horse's bit, a ship's rudder, and a flame to show us just how powerful they are.  Our words can hurt, or they can heal, and controlling them can sometimes feel impossible.  Thankfully, we can count on the Holy Spirit to help us practice self-control with our words. 
               
Bottom Line:  God gives you the power to have self-control.  Self-control can be tricky, especially when we want something really bad or when life doesn't go our way.  This can also be true with the words we use.  We pray that the kids will begin to see that they don't need to do this all independently.  God can help them show self-control. 
 
The attached take-home paper includes a fun coloring page to review the Fruits of the Spirit! 
 
Blessings,
RF Team 

​Hi Reign Forest Friends,
 
We will have our Bible Memory Celebration on Sunday, Aug 14, in Reign Forest during the Worship service!
 
We are very proud of ALL the children and their efforts to memorize God's Word!!! If your child has not met the goal yet, they can feel free to keep working on memorizing verses, and we would love to hear them on or before Sunday, Aug 7. Aug 7 will be the last Sunday for the kids to say Bible verses to a Reign Forest leader to count towards this year's challenge.
 
If your child has met the 30 Verse Challenge, he/she will be awarded a gift card to their choice of place during our celebration. Please let Anita know your child's choice of gift card by Sunday Aug 7. If your child does not reach the goal but has completed a set of 5 verses (5, 10, 15, 20, or 25), he/she will be able to pick a small prize from the treasure box on the morning of our celebration.
 
Thank you! We look forward to the celebration!
The Reign Forest Leaders 

​Hi Reign Forest Friends,
 
In week three, we jump back to 1 Samuel 18-20 and 2 Samuel 9. We dive deeper into the amazing friendship between David and Jonathan. Jonathan was a faithful friend to David when King Saul chased David and tried to kill him. David was faithful to Jonathan and kept an important promise to care for Jonathan’s family.
 
Bottom Line: Be faithful so others can count on you. Faithfulness will look different for each of us. Some of us will be faithful to family members who need encouragement. Others will faithfully help friends who struggle a bit. We hope kids learn that God can do some amazing things through them when they are faithful to others. 
 
Memory verse: There is no NEW memory verse. But please encourage your children to work on memorizing and reciting their verses if they still have ones left to say from the 30 verse Bible Memory Challenge here at Reign Forest.
 
Have a great week!
The Reign Forest team

Hello Everyone,
​
Last Sunday in Week 4, we spent time discovering more about Proverbs 15:18. Waiting can be the worst! But something Solomon wrote in Proverbs can help us remember why patience is so important. A person with a bad temper stirs up conflict. But a person who is patient calms things down. When we have to wait, it’s important not to let impatience get the best of us. We can trust God to give us the strength to have patience and keep our cool.

Bottom Line: Be patient with each other. We all face moments where we’ll find it difficult to have patience. From waiting in line to get a seat at your favorite restaurant to sitting in construction traffic on your way to vacation, how can you have patience when you want to get a move on? We pray that kids will start with prayer and ask God for help. God can give us patience in any situation!

Tomorrow we will be at Woodcrest Retreat Center for our annual church picnic. We hope to see you all there!
The Reign Forest Team,

Cheryl, Anita, Angie, Christine and Val

​Hi Reign Forest Friends,
 
In week three, we jump back to 1 Samuel 25:1-35, where we find a story about a woman named Abigail that starts with King David. He was furious with a man named Nabal, who mistreated his soldiers. David decided to get revenge until the man’s wife, Abigail, used her peacemaking skills and stopped something that could have been horrible. Even though she was not responsible for her husband’s offense, she realized she could play a role in making peace.
 
Today we listened to the Fruit of the Spirit is not a Coconut song. We reviewed Bible memory verse #30 given on the 1st Sunday of June 2022. We did a pass the fruit matching game on the foam mats to music. Then children had a choice to do a Father’s Day card or a Fruit of the Spirit-themed paper.
 
Bottom Line: You can help others make peace. Peace is often about helping stop an argument before it can escalate into something worse. Acting as a peacemaker between others will take time and energy, but God can give us the strength to help others make peace. Sometimes our outside perspective is what someone might need to see a peaceful solution. We want kids to know that with God’s help, they can make waves by helping others make peace.
 
Memory verse: There is no NEW memory verse. But please encourage your children to work on memorizing and reciting their verses if they still have ones from the 30-verse Bible Memory Challenge here at Reign Forest.
 
Have a great week!
The Reign Forest team

​Hope everyone is having a good week!
 
This past Sunday, we wrapped up our month on resilience in Hebrews 12:1-3. Resilience might not be easy, but the author of Hebrews reminds us of something important: all sorts of people have gone before us. They give us an incredible example to follow of what it means to have resilience, even throughout the most challenging moments of life. We can focus our attention on Jesus. He is the ultimate example of someone who endured death itself to accomplish the rescue mission God set out for Him.
 
Bottom Line: Keep going because of what Jesus did for you. Knowing that Jesus persevered through His death and was resurrected is the best encouragement for us to keep going when life gets hard. When we focus on Jesus, we remember that nothing is impossible, and God will help us show resilience through whatever we face in life.
 
Bible Verse #29: And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith (Hebrews 12:1b-2a).
 
Blessings!
The RF Team

​For week four, we spent time in Hebrews 11. The author of Hebrews reminds us that when life gets hard, we can look to the heroes of the faith and see how they trusted God through some tough circumstances. We use Abraham, Joseph, and Moses to help kids understand how to show resilience through difficult circumstances.
 
Bottom Line: Trusting God can help you get back up. It’s comforting to know that others have made it through to the other side of difficult times. When we see how God helped them, it helps us trust God more with our circumstances.
 
Bible Verse #28: “The Lord helps the fallen and lifts those bent beneath their loads” (Psalm 145:14, NLT).
 
Have a Great week!
The Reign Forest Team

​Hi Reign Forest Friends,
 
We finish the month with a critical moment recorded in John 20:19-29. Although Thomas was one of Jesus’ disciples, He hadn’t yet seen Jesus face-to-face after the resurrection. When the rest of the disciples tried to tell him that Jesus was alive, Thomas couldn’t believe it. When Jesus showed up again, He went right over to Thomas and gave him a chance to touch the scars. Thomas knew once and for all that Jesus was alive!
 
Bottom Line: Whatever happens, remember God is bigger than your questions. Questions are a normal part of growing up and following Jesus. We won’t always understand what we read in the Bible or why our life looks like it does. God wants us to be honest about our questions and doubts. You can create a safe environment where kids can process the questions they face. We pray that kids will understand that they can have hope knowing God will be with them through their questions.
 
Bible Verse #24: “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, NLT).
 
Blessings!
The RF Team

​Hello Reign Forest Friends,
During the month of April, we are focusing on HOPE: Believing that something good can come out of something bad.
 
Today was an extra special Sunday in Reign Forest. We looked at Easter through John’s perspective in John 18-20. As the disciples experienced the events of the crucifixion, from Jesus’ arrest in the garden to His death, they must have wondered if everything they shared with Jesus was all for nothing. But that all changed when they discovered that Jesus was alive! Everything Jesus said about Himself was true. The disciples’ hope was building on the foundation of a risen Savior.
 
Bottom Line: Whatever happens, remember Jesus is alive. No matter what we face in life, we can hope because Jesus is stronger than sin and death. His resurrection is proof that God loves us and wants a forever relationship with us. We pray that kids celebrate Jesus and discover the hope we can have because Jesus is alive.
 
Bible Verse #23: “He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying” (Matthew 28:6, NLT).
 
Review of class:
1) After the video story, we read through our new memory verse. Then we did an Easter Object lesson. Visually, it demonstrated how Jesus’ death on the cross paid for/took away our sin. 
 
2) We introduced Resurrection eggs. Resurrection eggs are 12 eggs with a symbol that represents a part of the story of Jesus’s death and resurrection inside each egg. It’s a fun way for children to learn and retell the events of Holy Week, Jesus’ death, and resurrection. The children did a relay race with the Resurrection plastic eggs, then had to arrange the symbols in the eggs in the correct order. There were three relay teams.
 
3) Then, the children used their artistic talent to decorate popsicle stick crosses. We attached magnets so they can be displayed in your home if you desire.
 
4) We sent each child home with an Easter story snack mix and their take-home paper.
 
Have a wonderful week!
Reign Forest Team

​Hi Reign Forest Friends,
 
During the month of April, we are focusing on HOPE: Believing that something good can come out of something bad.
 
Life can sometimes feel like a giant puzzle. All we can see is the piece we’re experiencing right now, and we’re not sure where it fits into the greater picture that is forming us. We can’t always understand why some things happen to us or those we love. Yet, despite our confusion, we can have hope. God has kept promises throughout history. We can believe that God will continue to be with us through what we face now. Even in the toughest times, we can have hope because we know God is always working and can make something good out of something bad. 
 
This past Sunday, we started the month with friends of Jesus who had lost all hope. John records an incredible moment that we find in John 11:1-45. When Lazarus died, Jesus used the opportunity to point people to God. Jesus was stronger than even death itself and raised Lazarus back to life four days after death.
 
Bottom Line: Whatever happens, remember how powerful God is. God can do amazing things in your life. We pray that kids will understand that when they face something difficult or hard to understand, they’ll find hope that God’s power can help us through whatever we face.
 
Bible Verse #21 - “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom”                 (1 Chronicles 29:11a, NLT).
 
Blessings!
The RF Team