This past Sunday was the first Sunday for Bubba to begin spending the whole service with us. Little is still allowed to leave with the flag and go to children’s church so that she can move around a bit, have a snack, and hear God’s word in a way that just might mean something to her special little brain. BUT, Bubba is very capable of sitting still and focusing and so we made the plunge this past week on “Kick-off Sunday”.

I was thinking through a bag to pack for him and wanted it to be filled with things that would help him focus on the sermon NOT just something to keep him busy. I remember my mom telling me while sitting on the second pew in North Carolina, “You can draw but it has to be about something your Father is preaching about.” As I was reminiscing/thinking, I remembered a tool from Pinterest that a woman had created for her own children’s church experience. I clicked right over and used this as an example and inspiration for a sheet of my own.

I chose words that I know reflect the values of our church and then emailed our pastor and asked what the sermon was going to be about so that I could pick two words specific to the message. I felt like it turned out nicely and I made a copy for Bubba and one for his friend WQL so that I could get some feedback from his mommy.

Bubba did a great job in the service. As he started to understand what he was to do with the tally marks he would look at me each time he heard Pastor Mark say “purpose” and then he would right his line. Only ten marks fit in the space and so he would just look at me with wide eyes after that and then move on. WQL filled up his picture space with tick marks! He wasn’t going to be boxed in (get it? Ha!).

After church the two stood and compared notes to see how many marks the other had. I asked them which words Pastor Mark had said the most times and WQL quickly answered, “God, Glorify, and Purpose.” I asked him if he could tell me what the theme of the sermon was or what Pastor Mark was hoping we would learn from the lesson and together he and I came to the conclusion that it must have been that God’s purpose for man is to Glorify Him. What joy to walk through that with those boys. Tonight I heard Bubba tell his sisters, “I just love staying all the way through big church!”

Regan did give some feedback and I had a couple thoughts of my own. I took out the spaces for hymn numbers because we have so many songs printed in the bulletin. I added more space for tick marks and took out the space to draw a picture and figured folks could use the entire back of the page for that.

Would this not be a fun way to serve the young mom’s in the church? To provide a tool to help them disciple their children in the context of their church family – good stuff. You can go here to download a copy of your own. I left two spaces blank so that you could fill in words that refer to your church’s service. You could call ahead and ask the pastor’s assistant or you could just wait until you see the title and that may make the word choice clear. Either way, I hope it is helpful and that we all see fruit!