And the winner is...

Family Connection

10.30.2014

"Be like the Son of Man (Jesus), He did not come to be served.  Instead He came to serve others.  He came to give His life as the price of setting many people free."-Matthew 20:28 (NIrV)

I want to say "thank you" to all of the kids and families who sent in pictures of your serving together this month.  I hope this was fun for all of you, especially your kids as we have been encouraging them to serve.  As promised, we have drawn two names from the children who submitted pictures and those families will receive 2 family fun packs worth $100 each ($50 gift certificates to Harkins and In N Out).  The names we picked were Brody Johnston and Murphy Robinson.  The Johnston and Robinson families will receive these family packs!  Congratulations.  Even though the contest is over, keep on serving, it's what Jesus wants us to do.

Very often, Chad will say that we are never more like Jesus than when we give and when we serve.  This is true in so many ways.  While I never want to guilt people into serving, as a pastor it is important to me that I share the truth with children and families.  If we follow Jesus, He is our example and we should do what He did.  Jesus served.  He made it very clear that His followers should also serve others.  When we serve others, we take our eyes off of ourselves and look at them.  When we look at others, it can help us to see them the way God sees them, as individuals He loves and wants to have a relationship with.  When we model serving to our children, we are actually helping them to see Jesus and to grow closer to Him.

If you already have a place here at the church where you serve, I want to thank you and encourage you to keep going.  If you don’t currently serve somewhere at the church can I ask you why?  I’m not being critical, I really want to know.  We want to provide easy opportunities for people to serve in Children’s Ministry, but it is possible you may not know this.  You can help us identify where we can improve by sharing why you don’t serve.  Here’s something else you may not know, serving in Children’s Ministry is a blast!  I’m not sure who has more fun each weekend, the kids or the volunteers.  Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

This week in Kids’ Zone, we are continuing our Follow Jesus to the EXTREME series.  This weekend we will start a new virtue of Thankfulness-Showing God and others I appreciate what they do for me.  We will encourage kids to show their thankfulness all month.

If you would like to watch a video of the upcoming lesson, click here:  https://vimeo.com/109644057

In our Early Childhood ministry we will be looking at the basic truth of God made, all month, and will looking at the theme of being thankful.  This week we will be looking at Genesis 1:6-10 and how we can be thankful that God made the water.  The verse for this month is “I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart.”-Psalm 111.1 (ESV). 

Thank you for trusting us to help your children meet, know and follow Jesus.

Walking by your side,

Brett Humphrey-Pastor H

Like us on Facebook!  Sun Valley Kids/Gilbert Campus

Twitter - @BrettHumphrey11

   @SVKidsGilbert                              

Email - bhumphrey@sunvalleycc.com

Of Superheroes and Sports Teams

"But the fruit the Holy Spirit produces is love, joy and peace.  It is being patient, kind and good.  It is being faithful and gentle and having control of oneself.  There is no law against things of that kind."-Galatians 5:22-23 (NIrV)

My daughter Sofie and I love going to Comicon.  We love walking around and seeing all of the people dressed in costumes as their favorite superheroes.  The last time we went we spent a full day and took a lot of pictures with people identifying with their favorite characters.  On our way home, we drove past the Arizona Diamondback stadium and watched the people filing inside dressed in the jerseys of their favorite players, carrying signs with messages to the team and even saw a few people with painted faces.  It was interesting to see two different groups dressed up and identifying with superheroes and sports heroes just a few blocks away from each other.  It made me wonder how easy it is for others to identify me as a follower of Jesus.

As I look at the passage in Galatians, it seems pretty clear that people should be able to identify followers of Jesus by the fruit of the Holy Spirit.  However, sometimes followers of Jesus are more easily identified by what we stand against than what we stand for.

When our children were younger we would talk about the things we stand for as a family.  Jennifer and I would reinforce the things we wanted to be known for as a family.  We would say things like, “as a Humphrey we want to make sure we are honest”, “as a Humphrey we want to make sure we serve others”, etc.  Even though our children are older now we still use these terms.  The other day I was having a conversation with my 18 year old son about how we strive to follow Jesus’ teachings in Matthew 18 when we have a conflict, even if it isn't easy; it's what we do as Humphreys.  I can’t take any credit for this, I learned this from another parent I admired and Jennifer and I put it into practice in our lives.

I want to encourage you to spend some time thinking about the things you and your family stand for.  As you learn how to meet, know and follow Jesus talk about some of the best ways to follow Him and ask the following questions.  What are some things that you would like to use to define your family?  What are some things you want your kids to know that you do?  I would encourage you to start by following Galatians 5:22-23 and go from there.

Rejoice in the Lord!-05.29.2014

Family Connection

05.29.2014

“Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again:  Rejoice!”-Philippians 4:6 (NIV)

Last night our middle son, Joshua, graduated from High School.  We couldn’t be more proud of him and are grateful to be his parents.  We are rejoicing as parents that our second son has graduated from High School, but we are also rejoicing with him that this chapter of his life is behind him and he can continue to move towards his future.  We are rejoicing!

What do you have to rejoice about?  What things are you celebrating with your family?  What are you thanking God for? 

It is good for us to look for things to rejoice over because it can help us focus on the goodness of God and His faithfulness to us.  When we help our children rejoice, it can help them keep from becoming self-centered and grumbling about what they don’t have.  When we rejoice, it can help us keep from becoming self-centered and grumbling about what we don’t have.  When we rejoice, we keep our eyes on God and His goodness and thank Him for what He has done, what He is doing and what He will do.  To paraphrase the Apostle Paul, we should keep rejoicing!  I don’t mind repeating myself, we should keep rejoicing in all of the things the Lord has done for us!

Twitter-@BrettHumphrey11

bhumphrey@sunvalleycc.com

Colossians 3:23

Family Connection

05.22.2014

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”-Colossians 3:23 (NIV)

Today I was meeting with a parent to talk about him joining our ministry as a volunteer.  We talked a lot about life and what we do in our respective jobs.  One of the things I said to him is that I want to live a life of significance.  It would be easy to get up, go to work, go home, hang out with family, go to bed and then repeat that all over the next day; but that isn’t good enough.  At the end of my life, I want to make sure that it has counted for something significant. 

As parents we don’t just want our lives to be significant, but we want our children to be significant as well.  We want so much for our children.  In fact, we want more for our children than we had.  But if we follow Jesus, at the end of it all we want to make sure our children meet, know and follow Jesus and live godly lives.

Sometimes this can be overwhelming for parents when we think about what we want to accomplish, how we want our children to live for God.  However, the good news is we don’t have to do all of this on our own.  Not only do you have this ministry to walk alongside you to help teach your children how to meet, know and follow Jesus.  God, the Holy Spirit wants to help you do this as well.  As parents, one of the most significant things we can do for our children’s spiritual formation is to model our own walks with Jesus to them.  We don’t have to preach at them, instead let our actions be our words.  I love how this quote by St. Francis of Assisi illustrates this point-“Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.”  

My prayer for all of us is that we can preach the Gospel to our children by our actions, each and every day.

Brett Humphrey-Pastor H

Twitter-@BrettHumphrey11

Follow the Leader

Family Connection

01.23.2014

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.  Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God-even as I try to please everybody in every way.  For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.  Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”-1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1 (NIV)

I’m sure you have heard the phrase, “more is caught than taught” when it comes to learning.  This is especially true for our children when it comes to following Jesus.  Even though we partner with you at church as we try to help children meet, know and follow Jesus; the reality is you have far more influence in the spiritual development of your children then we do.  You have the greatest influence for the simple reason you spend more time with your children then we do.

You might have heard the phrase, “do as I say, not as I do” when you were growing up.  How did that work out?  Children tend to imitate their parents and tend to do what they see.  Do our children see us get angry in traffic towards other drivers?  They will tend to imitate us in this way.  Do our children see us go out of our way to help others and exhibit a Christ-like attitude?  They will tend to imitate us in this way as well.

In the above passage, Paul is encouraging those he is writing to follow his example as he follows the example of Christ.  Paul isn’t claiming perfection here but he is setting a standard to follow and that standard is Christ.  This is something I am mindful of as I lead my family and try to be an imitator of Jesus.  I want to encourage each of us as parents to think of these things as we lead our families.  My prayer is that we will all follow Christ so closely that we will be an example to our children!

This weekend we will be teaching the children in Early Childhood about how Jesus has power over everything and will be looking at Matthew 8:23-27 and how Jesus calmed the storm.

In our 1^st – 4^th grade ministry we are on week #4 of our Lego series and we will be talking about Matthew 7:24-29 and what happens if we just listen to Jesus’ words but don’t put them into practice.  The theme is Lego-Building our lives on the firm foundation of God’s Word.  Here is the video of the lesson for this weekend: 

https://vimeo.com/84725458

Walking by your side,

Brett Humphrey

Pastor H

Family Connection 10.04.2012

Family Connection

10.04.2012

“I thank my God every time I remember you.  In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy.  I am happy because you have joined me in spreading the good news.  You have done so from the first day until now.  I am sure that the One who began a good work in you will carry it on until it is completed.  That will be on the day Christ Jesus returns.”-Philippians 1:3-6 (NIrV)

When my boys were younger and I was working on something around the house they would ask to help me.  My daughter didn’t ask me about helping around the house so much but she wanted to learn how to cook so she would ask to help around the kitchen.  Now I knew that if I let them help me it would take a lot longer to get things done.  In fact, my motto used to be, “half the work in twice the time.”  However, I also knew that by letting them help me not only would we spend time together; I would also be teaching them skills they could use later in life. 

I wonder sometimes if this is how Paul felt.  He knew how to teach about Jesus and show them how to follow Him.  However, he also knew the value of letting people work alongside him so he could teach them how to live for God too.  I love how he expresses this in his letter to the Philippians.  I love his care for the people of that city and his desire to see them grow in Jesus.

One of the best things we can do as parents to teach our children how to follow Jesus is to let them see us follow Jesus ourselves.  When we let them see us read the Bible or serve others for Him we can teach them far more with our actions than we can with our words.  When we put God first in our lives and then live this out before our children, it is a great thing and a wonderful way for us to show Jesus to our children.

This week I encourage you to have one “God” conversation with your children.  It doesn’t have to be anything deep or “theological” instead, I encourage you to talk about your own walk with God and what you are learning.  Of course with a preschooler the conversation may be as simple as talking about the things we can be thankful to God for but you can still do this with a young child.  I would really love to hear how this goes for you!!

This week in our 1^st-4^th grade ministry we start a new virtue, Individuality-discovering who you are meant to be so you can make a difference.  We will be looking at the life of Timothy and how he decided to follow Jesus and we should too.  I have a video of the upcoming lesson you can watch here:  http://youtu.be/Tp6Mr_nLdjc

In Early Childhood we are looking at the life of David to answer the question:  Who helps you do big things?  God helps me do big things.  This week we will be looking at 1 Samuel 17:34-37.

Please feel free to go over the material with your child before they come to church if you would like.  We are also taking pictures this week for our new website.  The plan is to take pictures from the back of the rooms to capture the action in the rooms rather than individual children.  However if you do not wish for your child to be photographed, please let one of the classroom teachers know.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be part of the spiritual formation of your children. 

Walking by your side,

Brett Humphrey

Pastor H

And The Rest...

I suppose I am writing this post more for myself than anyone else but here goes.  On Wednesday the 12th, I got to travel to see some of the ministries supported by Orchard Africa.  We first drove to the medical clinic so we could get an idea on the realities of village life.  This clinic, services people suffering with HIV, TB, ante natal care as well as regular medical complaints.  These people will walk many miles to come to this clinic.  The sisters (nurses) who work here are dedicated to the people and providing medical care for them. I was impressed that they were still able to retain their humor even in the midst of difficult circumstances.
The next thing we did was head to a graveyard.  This was very sobering because I think the oldest person in there was 65.  Most people were buried in their 30's - 40's.  Even though HIV is a huge killer in South Africa, the real wave of deaths from AIDS is still to be felt.  What will the country look like, what will the continent look like when there are more child head of households.
We then visited with Lilly a heath care supporter who visits patients in their homes.  We met with one elderly woman who is crippled with back issues and two young women with HIV.  It was a very sobering day.

After that...I went back to the hotel and slept for 15 hours because I started to get sick, and then kept getting sicker.  I made it to a Dr. in Cape Town and was diagnosed with measles.  I had a reaction to the MMR booster shot I received.  For the rest of the trip, I have tried to hang on.  This has been a very difficult experience for me as I haven't ever been this sick, and I was a long way from home, but my experiences pale  in comparison to what these people in Mafikeng face daily.  I will wrestle with what God wants me to learn from this trip and will hopefully come up with some answers in the next couple of weeks.  I write this final blog in Chicago sitting and waiting for my last flight.  I am looking forward to coming home.