A day of Giving

Today 5/31/08 we taught on the Good Samaritan. We started with an object lesson, and then a reenactment of the story. It always exciting to see the children watching so closely. We, had a Pari (priest) a religious person (The Levite) and then the Samaritan. It was lots of fun. Verna finished with a skit. It was about how the two dirty girls where whisk away by a rich person, then two older girls came and cleaned them up, and gave them something to eat. Then to tie it all together, Verna and I (Mark) preached out the meaning. I thought I would minister more along the lines of the parable, but it seemed right to talk about giving. So we ministered along those lines, how that we are in a Kingdom and one of the principles is to give. We used scriptures familiar such as John 3:16 and Luke 6:38. It can be a real act of faith to minister to many kids at different age groups, but we believe God!!! That's what makes each Saturday so different and rewarding. We have one more week left in our inviting contest, so we will show the winners with their prizes next time. We had 12 pray to receive Jesus today!!! That is the best part of it all. Love to all!! - Mark & Verna

And it keeps growing...

We had a bigger attendance than we've had for quite some time, about 140 or so. We are currently having an "inviting contest." It helps motivate the kids, well one boy brought 20. So that was quite well. Verna ministered on "adan and eva" or "Adam and Eve." She enacted it with the help of several helpers and some of the children with props. She used our dragon puppet in a tree with the 'fruit'. The kids were really excited and then she had Cain and Abel with their offering and then the murder. We had Jesus and satan characters as well. Verna demonstrated with word badges different things that satan brought into the world like sin, sickness, death, poverty and hunger. She had different kids, who had dark makeup wear those word badges. Our 'satan' character gave them the words to wear. Then she had the good things that Jesus brought to man like salvation, heaven, eternal life, healing and abundance. 'Jesus' gave the good words. It was fun and visual.This morning, I was looking at a book and read "sometimes you have to say No!" I knew this was for the kids so after she finished her part. We ministered on the word "No!" We built it up big! by saying all of the pain, suffering, murders, hurt, stealing could have been stopped with this strong, powerful, etc. word. Many guessed different things like Jesus, faith, obedience. Good words, but not the word for the time when Adam and Eve were being tempted. It, of course, was NO! or Hindi in Tagalog. We said you have to say No! to enticing friends who won't always appear as Satan. We used the 'satan' and said temptation won't always look like this, but sometimes like our friends. It ended with us praying with 31 kids praying to receive Jesus!!!It took some more preaching to get the attention of that many kids, but He is Able and the Anointing to save souls is awesome.Lastly we had doorprizes giveaways. We gave out notebooks, food, candy bars, rice, snacks, it was very exciting for the kids. -Mark

21 Saved in the Childrens Ministry

5/17/2008 was a great day, we had 21 saved, we taught on the Centurion. Verna and Alexis made a costume and acted it out. Verna and I then preached to them, and we said that this man got a miracle for someone else, and that they may need to do the same for someone else. I told a personal story about how God rented my house out when I moved to Tulsa, and that He still does miracles. We led them in a prayer that God would do a miracle for them, and you could sense the Spirit as we led them in that prayer. I wanted to be the one God would use to get them new slippers, all the school supplies and other things. We are currently having an inviting contest and it is working too good! When we led the children to receive Jesus, the expression on their faces after we prayed was priceless. I could see just a sobering/life of God look on them that was just amazing. We pray with a lot of kids so we know the saving presence of God, and we definitely had it today. We then played a game as a fun time together, it was tug-o-war, they had a blast. The advanced learners got a taste of spirit soul and body from 1 Thessalonians 5:23. We demonstrated with 3 boys. The body was a smaller boy and they all laughed. Then the boy got saved and got a new spirit, another boy. I got revelation as I taught them. We also read the story of the rich man and Lazarus and preached from that. Our advanced class is about 30 minutes or so and we want these kids to grow in the things of God. The team did a great help in volunteering today, each did a great job in helping with the kids.

Our First Entry

Hello From Mark and Verna Lanier,

We will use this forum to keep all our parnters and friend up to date concerning events here in Manila. Thanks for your support and prayers!!!