Creative Arts Camp
We were thrilled to have the opportunity to participate in Creative Arts Camp at Broadway Baptist this year. Our church has a remarkable number of talented musicians and artists, and there are a number of opportunities to expose our children to the arts. My daughter, Beatrice, came home from camp daily excited about the new things she had learned and made that day. It is such a blessing for our children to interact with the arts in a church setting - thank you for creating this opportunity for our family.
~Beth Davis
FREE Class
The FREE class is a group of young adults, ranging generally from early 20’s to mid 30’s, who view our faith through a lens of compassion, community, and a responsibility to be servants and stewards of our faith to both the people in our church and the world outside of Broadway. The FREE class is important because in many churches the voices of the “young” Christian is either completely absent or lost. FREE has created a space for those voices to be shared and nurtured, as well as a community of support and encouragement as we grow in life and in faith together.
~Noelle Bailey
Parents Night Out
This past Christmas break, I helped watch kids at an event at my church called Parents Night Out, which allowed parents to drop their children off and not have to worry about them for a few hours. The children spent the evening playing games, making crafts, eating, running around, and watching The Polar Express. I stayed in the gym for most of the night making sure no one got into any accidents on the tricycle, but I’d go around looking for help somewhere else when the kids got tired of playing around in the gym.
I don’t consider myself terrific with kids, but I try to help out at church whenever I can, and they usually make it easy on me anyway. I’ve noticed that most of the time when a child does something wrong, he or she knows that it’s wrong and admits to it, instead of pretending that it didn’t happen like many others would do. They are all surprisingly conscious of what is right and what is wrong at such a young age. These aren’t major crimes or anything of course, the biggest offense is is usually making a mess of the ball pit or stealing someone’s toy, but they always own up to what they’ve done and apologize. I really appreciate the time I get to spend with them no matter the event, and I look forward to the next time I get to work with them.
~Davis Jones
Trunk or Treat
I don’t know how to talk about this year’s Trunk or Treat without gushing about the success of the event. Last year, the Children’s and Outreach Committees volunteered to plan the event in conjunction with the Social Team, who has done such a wonderful job of creating and organizing Trunk or Treat in the past. The goal was to make Trunk or Treat an event large enough for the community to attend, and one in which our whole congregation could participate.
The Outreach Committee sent post cards to the community, and passed out flyers at the St. Matthew’s Area Chamber of Commerce Trick or Treat event at Brown Park. Their work brought in multiple children from around the community, who experienced the warmth and hospitality (not to mention - fun!) of our church family.
The Children’s Committee and Social Team decorated the Family Life Center, planned games, and made lots of fun treats for the families to enjoy. Our Wednesday night crowd proved their ability to be flexible, and ate chili in the FLC, while enjoying the sights of children in costumes and the sounds of their laughter and enjoyment.
Overall, this event was not just about growing younger populations, but bringing together all the age groups represented in the church. It ended up being a night in which we could all celebrate together as a church body, and everyone left with a smile on their face!
~Emily Holladay