Running the Race

We found five passages in the New Testament that speak of the Christian life as a race that we run, and so we wrote from them five lessons that emphasise lordship, faithfulness, the importance of God's word, holiness, and heavenly rewards. In Galion we initially developed these materials for use in 2005, then we polished them up and used them for the second time in 2011, so they're fairly complete at this point.

This theme is essentially complete, although there are a few bits that I still need to finish posting online (most notably, the teen and preschool Bible lessons).

	Elementary		Preschool		Teens
Monday	Bible Lesson:	David and the Lord's Annointed: Jesus should be Lord and Master of our lives.	Bible Lesson:		Bible Lesson:
	Memory Verse:	1st John 2:3	Shape Lesson:	The Ball	Discussion:	8 questions
	Missions:	(Skit) What is a Missionary?			Missions:	[same as elementary]
	Craft:	Bean Mosaic	Craft:	Felt Pennant	Craft:	Baked Rock
	Game: Baton Relay
	Snack: animal crackers
Tuesday	Bible Lesson:	Daniel and the Satraps: God Expects Faithfulness	Bible Lesson:		Bible Lesson:
	Memory Verse:	1st Corinthians 15:58	Shape Lesson:	The Book	Discussion:	7 questions
	Missions:	(Skit) Why Do We Send Missionaries?			Missions:	[same as elementary]
	Craft:	Suncatcher	Craft:	Lion Face	Craft:	Suncatcher (same as elementary)
	Game: Water Relay
	Snack: Lion Cookies
Wednesday	Bible Lesson:	Josiah and the Book: we should study God's word and apply it to our lives.	Bible Lesson:		Bible Lesson:
	Memory Verse:	1st Thessalonians 2:13	Shape Lesson:	The Heart	Discussion:	9 questions
	Missions:	(Skit) What Does a Missionary Do?			Missions:	[same as elementary]
	Craft:	Painted Silhouette	Craft:	Watercolor Painting	Craft:	Painted Silhouette (same as elementary)
	Game: Obstacle Course
	Snack: cupcakes*
Thursday	Bible Lesson:	The Rich Young Man: throw off things that entangle	Bible Lesson:		Bible Lesson:
	Memory Verse:	2nd Timothy 4:7-8	Shape Lesson:	The Cross	Discussion:	7 questions
	Missions:	(Skit) Where Does a Missionary Go?			Missions:	[same as elementary]
	Craft:	Felt Pennant	Craft:	[Needed]	Craft:	Felt Pennant (same as elementary)
	Game: Sand Relay
	Snack: chocolate coin and fruit cup
Friday	Bible Lesson:	The Finish Line: Heaven (John on Patmos)	Bible Lesson:		Bible Lesson:
	Memory Verse:		Shape Lesson:	The Crown	Discussion:	8 questions
	Missions:	(Skit) Who Can Be a Missionary?			Missions:	[same as elementary]
	Craft:	Potato Painting (heaven scene)	Craft:	Posterboard Crown	Craft:	Colored Sand Design in Glass
	Game: Dress-Up Relay
	Snack: crown cookies

* - Items marked with an asterisk are incomplete or otherwise need work.

Preschool Memory Verse (all week): Luke 11:28, Jesus said, Blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it. (NIV)

Substitute Indoor Games:

• [Needed]

Decorations:

I do have photos of most of the decorations we did. I'll post some at some point, and link to them here once they're up. I wanted to go ahead and get this summary posted first.

Running the Race Snacks

Monday: Animal Crackers

Each person gets a small cup of animal crackers, and punch to drink.

Lesson Tie-In:

The animal crackers go with the preschool shape lesson on creation. We were unable to devise a snack to go with the elementary or teen Bible lesson (suggestions welcome), but you can ask them questions about the lesson while they eat.

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Tuesday: Lion Cookies

Using a lion-shaped cookie cutter, prepare lion-shaped cutout cookies. Frost them in yellow or orange. Optionally, some of them can have manes made of licorice or coconut (but be sure to have some available without, too: a lot of children don't like licorice or coconut). Preschool should get one cookie each, and punch to drink. Older children will be able to eat two cookies.

Lesson Tie-In:

The lion cookies correlate with the story about Daniel, prayer, and God's care for us. Ask the children to tell you about the Daniel lesson while they eat.

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Wednesday: Cupcakes

Each person gets a cupcake, and punch.

Lesson Tie-In:

This one unfortunately does not correlate with the lesson. (If you can figure out a way to make scrolls out of some kind of food, that would correlate with the Josiah lesson, but we were unable to work out a good way to do this. Suggestions welcome.) However, you can ask the children questions about the lesson while they eat.

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Thursday: Chocolate Coins and Fruit

Each person gets one (foil-wrapped) chocolate coin and a cup of fruit.

Lesson Tie-In:

The coin goes with the lesson about the rich young man. Ask them questions about the lesson while they eat. (The fruit cup is just there to make the snack more substantial, so they have something to eat besides a piece of chocolate.)

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Friday: Crown Cookies

Make cut-out cookies in the shape of crowns, frosted bright yellow. If desired, they can also be decorated with gumdrop "gemstones". Preschool children should get one crown cookie each, and punch to drink. Older children will be able to eat more.

Lesson Tie-In:

The crown goes with the elementary and teen Bible lessons (on heaven) and with the preschool shapes lesson (also on heaven). Ask the children to tell you about the lesson while they eat.