SUNDAY MORNINGS October 28, 2018, Week 4 Grade: 5

10:15 Get Your Head in the Game What You Need: Can of soup or packaged food item What You Do: Choose two students to stand and face one another. Place the can of soup on the floor between them. Explain and demonstrate the following: o When I say SHOES, touch toes. o When I say HOUSE, put your arms up in the air like a roof. o When I say CLOTHES, stretch your arms out to the side. o When I say FOOD, grab the can of soup. Tell students that you will say the words several times quickly and in random order. When you say FOOD, the first person to grab the soup can is the winner of that round. Choose a new challenger to play against the winner and repeat the game until everyone has had at least one turn. Wrap Up and Say: Food, clothes, house, shoes most of us have all of those things. Some people have more. Some have less. It s easy to take it all for granted. I wonder if God dropped our lunch out of the sky today, do you think we d complain if it weren t our favorite food? Or would we be so in awe of what God did that it wouldn t matter what the food was? [Transition] Let s go to Large Group and hear about a time when God provided but people still complained. Lead your group to the Large Group area. 3

Don t Look Back Bible: Don t Look Back (Israelites Long for Egypt) Exodus 16:2-21; 17:1-7 Bottom Line: Don't miss out on what you have now. Key Question: What is good in your life right now? Memory Verse: Then he said to them, Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. Luke 12:15 (NIV) Life App: Contentment Deciding to be okay with what you have Basic Truth: I can trust God no matter what. Bible: Communicating God s Truth in Engaging Ways (Large Group, 30 minutes) Engage kids hearts through a dynamic and interactive Bible Truth, worship, and prayer experience in a Large Group setting. SFX: Play high-energy music as kids enter. CG: 10-second countdown Welcome Host enters. Host has lots of energy as he or she welcomes everyone to The Base. Host is relatable and inviting. Host can talk about something that happened culturally throughout the week like the World Series or a big sports game in your community, a movie opening, or a viral video on YouTube, etc. Host tells them how excited he or she is that they re there and briefly runs through what they can expect. This is especially helpful for first-time guests to make them feel like they know what s happening. Alright, everybody, let s stand and worship together! WORSHIP SFX: We Shine SFX: No Other Love SFX: Glory to God Opener Host transitions to Worship. Power Praise team exits as Host retakes the stage. Host transitions to the opening game. HOST: Are your ready for the final day or More or Less?! (Pause for response.) Awesome! Let s play! I need my three volunteers. Come on up! Host brings three preselected volunteers on stage and introduces them to the rest of the kids. 5

(As three volunteers are coming up) So... how many of you love candy? Yeah, me too. (Name a few of your favorites) Who doesn t love some candy every now again! For our game today, our three volunteers need to use their love of candy to win today s More or Less challenge! (To Volunteers) Who thinks he or she has a good knowledge of the various types of candy as well as intricacies that make up these delectable morsels of sweet, sweet goodness? (Pause for response.) You think so? Well, let s see! Here s how it works. In just a moment, you will put on this blindfold. I will hand each of you a sample of a candy. You must identify it using any of your senses besides taste and sight. You may touch it. You may smell it. You may even listen to it if you think that will help. You get one guess, so make it good. The first person to yell out the correct answer wins the round. Whoever wins the most rounds wins the game! Got it? Alright, let s get started! Play several rounds. If the right answer is guessed, turn the paper plate over to reveal the answer to the crowd. Be sure each volunteer only yells out one guess. At the end of the game, award a prize to the winner.... But because this is the More or Less show, you have the opportunity to trade in your prize for what is inside this mystery box. Now, remember that the prize could be MORE or it could be LESS. What do you want to do... would you like to trade your prize or keep it? Winner decides. Reveal what is in the box whether or not he or she chose to trade or not. Great edition of More or Less. Now, today s Bible Truth comes to you courtesy of the So and So show. So, get comfortable and have a look. [Tech s Name] would you please roll that film? CG: 252 Movie APPLICATION COMMUNICATOR: You know, sometimes we can give the Israelites a pretty hard time for what happened in the desert. I don t know about you, but I can get pretty hangry if I haven t eaten in a while. But in these moments, it was less about their complaining and more about what they were forgetting. If God had been able to work an incredible plan to rescue them from their slavery in Egypt, wouldn t God also be able to provide for them on the way to the land where He was taking them? But they were so focused on what they used to have that they were missing out on the chance to recognize what God was doing for them NOW. Think about it. Maybe you re upset because you don t have your own room like your friends and have to share with your brother or sister. But what can we be thankful for now? You have a place to live! You have family around you! 6

Or maybe you re frustrated that you aren t playing as much as you think you should on your sports team. But you re a part of a team! And you have the health and ability to play your sport. We can miss the good when we only see the bad. LANDING COMMUNICATOR: We re going to do something a little different before we head to small groups. Your small group leaders have index cards and pencils to pass out. I want you to take a couple of moments to write down as many things as you can to answer this question. CG: Key Question Slide What is good in your life right now? Even if it doesn t seem like you have anything good happening, really think about how God is caring for you and how Jesus saved you! Take a moment now. SFX: Quiet Instrumental Music Small Group Leaders hand out index cards and pencils and give the kids a chance to write down a few things. After two or three minutes, dismiss them to Small Groups. Now, one of the best ways to remind yourself how God has been caring for you is to talk about it. Take the index card with you to Small Group and share some of the things you wrote down with the rest of your group! But first, let s pray and thank God for always being there for us and being so trustworthy! Let s pray. Communicator leads group in a prayer related to what they just heard. After prayer, Communicator dismisses kids to Small Group. SFX: Play high-energy music as the kids exit. 7

Don t Look Back Bible: Don t Look Back (Israelites Long for Egypt) Exodus 16:2-21; 17:1-7 Bottom Line: Don't miss out on what you have now. Key Question: What is good in your life right now? Memory Verse: Then he said to them, Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. Luke 12:15 (NIV) Life App: Contentment Deciding to be okay with what you have Basic Truth: I can trust God no matter what. Groups: Creating a Safe Place to Connect (Small Groups, 15 minutes) Create a safe place to connect and learn how the Bible Truth applies to real life experiences, through interactive activities and discussion questions. 9:00 & 11:30 Take a Snapshot What You Need: Assorted adhesive labels, dark paper, Optional: MouthOff App on a smart phone What You Do: Ask everyone to sit in a circle. Give each person a sheet of dark colored paper. Place the assortment of stick-on labels in the middle of the circle so that everyone can reach them. Tell students to use the labels to create an outline, image, mosaic, or a word that describes something good in their lives right now. After a few minutes, let students share what they made and why it s the best thing in their life. Optional: Consider using the MouthOff App to let the kids share their answers to the questions above. They can choose a style of mouth from a variety of options. As they hold the phone in front of their mouths and talk, it will animate in time with the sounds they make. It s silly and very fun. If time allows, let students give their answers to a few more questions either by creating additional pictures or simply sharing their answers with one another: o What is something you used to have that you don t any longer and you miss it? o What is something you look forward to in the future? o What will you miss someday about being a kid? o What s something you can do that an adult probably wishes they could do too? o What is the best thing about being a kid your age? 8

10:15 Verses to Take with You What You Need: Shower caps, Heads Up Activity Page, sticky notes, pens, tape What You Do: Discuss scenarios in which kids and adults tend to complain like the Israelites. If needed, provide prompts by naming some of the common areas of life we wish could be the way they were in the past or can t wait for things to be different in the future. Help them come up with ten or more gripes. o School (homework, sports, teachers, coaches, unfairness) o Work (parent s job change, financial struggles, parents always working) o Friends (better friends at a previous school, want to be more popular, wish they had stuff other kids have) o Home (parents, siblings, where they live) As students share, write a summary of each complaint on a separate sticky note (or assign this task to a couple of students). Afterward, hand out Bibles, a shower cap, and one of the Heads Up verses to each student. Note that the Heads Up verses were used over the course of this month. If you don t have ten students in your group, choose the verses you feel are the most applicable to your particular group. Tell students to take a couple of minutes to look up their verses and write very short summaries of what they means (or they can simply write out the verse). When finished, ask them to tape their verses to the front of their shower caps then place the cap on their head. Ask them to imagine that the shower cap represents the thoughts in their head. If God s Word is something we keep in front of us in our thoughts then it can help us react to the things in our life the way He wants us to. Read one of the sticky notes. o If a student feels his or her verse is a reminder or HEADS UP of something that could help change a bad attitude by changing the thoughts in their head, let him or her share the verse and attach the sticky note to their shower cap. o If more than one verse applies to a situation, write an additional sticky note for that student as well. o Repeat with the remaining sticky notes, letting students discuss each scenario and how they can better adjust their reaction to the things that cannot always change. 9

All Service Times Pray and Dismiss (5 minutes) What You Need: Timer What You Do: Take turns seeing how many times each person can say thank you in five seconds. Remind your group that the lack of gratitude on the part of the Israelites was a clear signal that something wasn t right in their attitude. Ask them to rate their levels of gratitude on a scale of one to 10. They don t have to share their answers unless they want to. o One = a grumbling Israelite o Ten = Paul (from Week One), who was content no matter what Challenge them to continue to learn contentment and grow their gratitude by thanking God for ten things every day this week. o When they feel like complaining, the best fix is to start thanking God for all that He is and all that He does for them. Encourage them to begin right now by silently giving thanks for 10 things. What You Say: Dear God, this week, when something starts to steal our contentment, help us adjust our attitudes and be grateful instead. Help us remember that You are always in control. Please forgive us for complaining and comparing and forgetting to give You thanks. Help us to trust and even thank You when life is frustrating or we just don t understand why stuff happens the way it does. We ve learned so much this month about contentment. Now, help us live it out. In Your name we pray, Amen. 10

1 TIMOTHY 6:10 PHILIPPIANS 4:12 MATTHEW 6:21 ECCLESIASTES 5:10 MATTHEW 6:24 1 TIMOTHY 6:18 HEBREWS 13:5 COLOSSIANS 3:2 PHILIPPIANS 4:19 2 CORINTHIANS 11:23A What to Do: Print one and cut apart for each small group. Heads Up October 2018, Week 4, Preteen Small Group 2018 The rethink Group, Inc. All rights reserved.