Hey there, Westheights Kids Teams! Happy 2013! May the new year bring you a new energy: hope in God where you need it, and a renewed sense of purpose!!

Here’s a challenge that might help you in your personal growth–and so strengthen your ministry too…Are you up for it?

Have you been hoping to do more Scripture memorization, but need more encouragement and accountability? Have you been using Scripture to bless our infants and toddlers, and sensed God speaking to you through the blessings you read? Have you felt that as an On Your Mark! leader who teaches kids to memorize Scripture, that you’d like to memorize Scripture in community as well? Have you ever thought, “As leaders, we can’t lead where we don’t go ourselves, so if we expect the kids to learn Scripture by heart, and allow God to use it in our lives every day…???”

I have 2 options for you, and we’re encouraging all of our leaders, in all areas, to give one (or both) a try!

1) We’ve found a really do-able online Beth Moore event…It’s a Scripture memorization opportunity for 2013. It would take a commitment of memorizing 2 Scriptures per month, pacing it so that you can post your verses on the 1st and 15th of the month.

Here is the link that gives you instructions:

http://blog.lproof.org/2012/12/siesta-scripture-memory-team-2013-instructions.html

Here is the link for the blog post where you can register by posting your first verse:

http://blog.lproof.org/2013/01/2013-siesta-scripture-memory-team-verse-1.html

I was late with my first post, but apparently it doesn’t matter…As long as we get started and catch up…!

2) Okay, guys, you might not be as enthused about blogging with Beth Moore–a women’s ministry leader! For everyone—guys included—i.e. for the whole Westheights Kids’ community (and anyone else who’d like to take the challenge) I will post a blog entry similar to Beth Moore’s, where you can do the same thing–post the verses you memorize during the month. I would advise that you pick a date like the 1st of the month, or somewhere around the 1st and 15th if you’d like to do 2 verses/month…It might help with the discipline of learning them, but hey, we won’t be picky about it! Just post when you can!

If you’d like to participate, watch for my once-a-month entry on the church blog at connect.westheights.org. In the comment section, post your name, your verse, the reference, and the translation. Do this as many times a month as you’d like, in the case that you’d like to memorize more than one verse a month. (I plan to do 2, and to post it on Beth Moore’s blog, as well as the Westheights blog.) Get started whenever you can!

Please consider at the very least memorizing one verse a month–and SK-Grade 3 leaders, you could very well do the kids’ (252 Basics) monthly verse, although I’d encourage you to pick your own verse for the personal growth that Beth Moore talks about…The main thing is to get active and participate!

What do you think? Hopefully we will all be encouraged by seeing many verses on Connect…Knowing others are with us makes all the difference!

Let me know if you’d like to participate in Beth Moore’s “Siesta” challenge too, so we can all encourage each other…And/or if you’d like to participate in the church blog post, you can do one verse or two a month, and we’ll have a celebration at the end too…Yahoo!

Although I’m creating it primarily for OYM! leadership development, you don’t have to be an On Your Mark! leader to join in…Feel free to jump in, and invite friends to join either of these challenges!

Okay, so here goes…

Here’s my blog entry for this month. (Yes, I’m picking short ones on purpose!):

Charlene Neuman

They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Acts 2:42, NIV

Now you post yours in the Comment Section.

May the Word of God transform our lives each day…Can’t wait to hear your stories of how God uses His precious Word to speak to us! (Email your stories to me, after you blog your verse! Go, team!)