DISCOVERY ZONE is for all kids in 1st - 5th grades. This is our exciting Sunday morning Kids Church. Each week, we start with our own high-energy praise and worship, usually led by Laurann Alley. It is so cool to see the kids enter into worship. Every quarter, we have DZ Talent Time, where they each get to come on stage and share their talents with the group. This shows them that no matter how young or talented they are, that God honors their gifts and can use them to bring glory to His name. The DZ Kids are always challenged and encouraged (ok, mostly bribed) to bring in their friends, Bibles, offerings, and to learn Bible Scripture. They, in turn, receive Bible Bucks that they can use to get some really cool prizes and candy, of course. Sorry parents, but it is amazing what you get out of kids when you offer them candy. Our attendance runs about 22-25 kids each week. So, with a DZ Leader and a couple of our awesome youth helpers each week, we work as a team to share God’s love and His power He can have in their lives.

DZ Kids love to support our Missions projects! We have 2 children that we sponsor thru Compassion International. The DZ Kids write to them and send them gifts for their birthday and on Christmas. We also collected items to give for our Thanksgiving Blessing Meals, the Backpack Ministry, and helped sponsor many children for Christmas.

This year, DZ Kids really enjoyed a couple of extra special events: KIDS NIGHT OF WORSHIP was coordinated by Erin Lutz, and led by the youth band and DZ Kids singers. Everyone had a great time singing and praising! Plus there was a skit, prizes and even a balloon drop! DZ LIVE was held in August, with special guests from Atlanta. There were puppets, singing, life-size characters, games, prizes, and contests. Plus, we all learned more about Jesus and how He could help us every day.

The Kids Consignment Sale is our semi-annual fundraiser. Consignors receive 70% of their profit, while 30% goes into our Children’s Ministry. This is a great outreach for our church, because most of our consignors are from outside the church, so it allows us to be a blessing to so many families. We also hosted a Kids Night Out in December, where the kids enjoyed a night of fun activities while their parents went out. Deborah, Daizee, Angie and Toni, thank you so much for all your help with this fun night.

Easter Eggstravaganza is always a big hit. We had lots of carnival games, inflatables, prizes and huge egg hunt, with over 100 children in attendance. Thank you so much to all the volunteers that help out at this event. It is because of YOU that it is so successful. Another exciting DZ event was our week-long Super Crazy Kids Camp, and boy does it get crazy…It was a week full of exciting activities, field trips, snacks, meeting new friends, and each day a Bible verse and lesson to go with the theme of the day. A huge thanks to Misty Smith for her partnership in making this such a success.

I want to personal give a shout-out to Pamela and Charles McLendon, Laurann Alley, Lisa Wilson, our wonderful youth helpers, and to those who have volunteered at any DZ event in 2010. Thank you so much for your team work with DZ. Your faithfulness and love for the DZ Kids shine through and help make it awesome for the kids. We truly need more volunteers. If you have a heart to work with children, we would love for you to join our team. Maybe you have a gift or talent that can make DZ even more amazing! Working with the DZ Kids is truly rewarding and whether you can lead a class, make snacks or crafts, build a puppet stage, sew, pray with a small group, sing, or just be there to love on the kids, YOU should join us in DZ.

Kaye Pate, Coordinator