PURPOSE: This activity will introduce the children to the idea of being persistent in sharing about Jesus.

Find It Opening Activity Lesson 6 - I Will Be Persistent In All I Do! PURPOSE: This activity will introduce the children to the idea of being persistent in sharing about Jesus. DESCRIPTION: In this activity, the children will look for one ping pong ball hidden under a cup in a huge field of empty cups. MATERIALS NEEDED: For this activity, you will need this Help Sheet, ping pong ball, a large number (50 or more) of disposable cups. Note: Place the cups upside down in a large area. It is best if they are not in orderly rows, but randomly spread over as much space as possible. TO INTRODUCE THE ACTIVITY SAY:. I am going to ask you a question that is kind of a trick question. 2. When you are looking for something, when do you stop looking for it? (When you find it.) 3. The answer is that you stop looking for something when you find it. 4. Today you are going to play a game where you are looking for something. For detailed instructions on how to lead the activity, see the Small Group Leader DVD. Note: Depending on your space and the size of your room, pick four to six children to be the Searchers. They will race through the room looking for the ping pong ball under the cup. They must pick the cup up and then place it back down, they can not just knock the cups over. DURING THE ACTIVITY SAY:. Hidden under one of these cups is a ping pong ball. 2. When I say to go, the Searchers will search for the ball until one of them finds it. 3. When the ball is found you will all face away from the cups and the Searcher who found the ball will hide it again. 4. Then I will pick new Searchers and we will play again. Note: Rotate to give as many children a chance to play as possible. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

CONTINUED FROM PAGE AFTER THE ACTIVITY SAY:. Good job finding the ping pong ball! 2. To find the ping pong ball you had to look under a lot of cups. 3. If you had stopped looking for the ping pong ball after the first cup you turned over, you never would have found it. 4. You had to be persistent and keep looking until you found the ball. 5. Finding people who will listen when we tell them about Jesus is sometimes a bit like finding the ping pong ball. 6. When we tell someone about Jesus or invite a person to church he or she might not want to listen. But if we stop telling people and stop inviting, we will never find people who will listen. CLOSING STATEMENT: If we persistently tell others about Jesus, we will eventually find people who will listen. Let s go into Large Group and learn more about it. 2

Lesson 6 I Will Be Persistent in All I Do! LESSON GOAL: The children will learn that we should keep doing the work God has given us even when we face difficulties. MAIN POINT: I Will Be Persistent In All I Do! BIBLE LESSON: Paul in Corinth - Acts 8:- BIBLE VERSE: I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. John 6:33 (NLT) What Is The Purpose Of These Activities? THE CREW S CRUISE GAMES (WEEKLY OPENING ACTIVITY) This activity will introduce the children to the theme of the series and prepare them to learn the Main Point. FIND IT (OPENING ACTIVITY) This activity will introduce the children to the idea of being persistent in sharing about Jesus. SKIT AND BIBLE LESSON (LARGE GROUP ACTIVITY) This Skit and Bible Lesson will teach the children that we should keep doing the work God has given us even when we face difficulties. SHIP TO SHORE (WEEKLY REVIEW ACTIVITY) This activity will review the lesson with the children and give them a reminder of the lesson to take home. WHAT IS IT (APPLICATION ACTIVITY) This activity will give the children an example of persistence. HIT OR MISS (APPLICATION ACTIVITY) This activity will show the children that if one person does not listen when we share about Jesus we should not stop. We should keep telling others about Jesus. GO FOR THE ASK (APPLICATION ACTIVITY) This activity will give the children a method to help them persistently tell their friends about Jesus and invite them to church. CRUISE SHIP GAMES (REVIEW GAME - LARGE GROUP ACTIVITY) This is a strategic time to review and reinforce the content of the lesson.

Lesson 6 Watching the Bible Story and Skit on DVD Single Teacher using the Watch It/Train DVD Lesson 6 - I Will Be Persistent In All I Do! PURPOSE: This Skit and Bible Lesson will teach the children that we should keep doing the work God has given us even when we face difficulties. MATERIALS NEEDED: Main Point Paper Lesson 6 from the Lesson Materials CD-ROM Lead the children through the Opening Activity. logo Begin Large Group Time. Welcome the children as they arrive and then begin the service. Optional: Take a few moments to assign roles to some of the children for the upcoming service. Choose children to be game leaders, to be song leaders, to take up the offering, to pray for the offering, to pass out materials, etc. Note: For this lesson use Sound Track CD # 2. 2 Note: As you welcome the children, secretly give one child the Main Point Paper and have the child hide it in a pocket. Explain that you will have another child try to figure out who is carrying the Main Point Paper. Yes! It s a new day, the passengers are all ready to go! The cruise ship is working perfectly, and the ocean is calling us onward! So let s get today s journey underway! Who is ready for one of The Crew s Cruise Games? Let me hear you! (allows the children to respond) 2 Crew s Cruise Games Teacher leads the children in the Opening Activity. See The Crew s Cruise Games Help Sheet Lesson 6 on your Lesson Materials CD-ROM and follow the instructions. After the game, return to the script to continue the service. I don t know about you, but I know I had a great time! And today s game has a follow up/bonus game for us to play. l have hidden today s Main Point with one of you. It is that person s job to hang on to that Main Point until our volunteer asks him or her for it. I need one volunteer who is really good at finding things. Teacher chooses one child who volunteers. The volunteer is instructed that another child somewhere in the group has today s Main Point on a piece of

3 paper. It is the volunteer s job to ask the rest of the children, one at a time, if they have the Main Point Paper. They must continue until the Main Point Paper is found. Once found, the Main Point Paper should be brought back to the Teacher. Good job! Now we have our Main Point for today! (reads Main Point Paper) I Will Be Persistent In All I Do! Being persistent means that you keep trying and keep working on a task. Our volunteer was persistent in that game we just played. The first few guesses were incorrect, but the volunteer didn t give up. Instead, the volunteer kept trying and kept working. That s what persistence is. So let s divide into two teams and see which team can come up with better motions and shout the Main Point the loudest! 3 Main Point Teacher divides the children into two teams. Each team is given a few moments to come up with motions that go along with the Main Point. Then the teams will take turns shouting the Main Point with motions. After each team has shouted, a winner is declared. Optional: Ask the children for one volunteer who will come up and help you lead the Main Point for the other children. Way to go, my passenger friends! Now I bet some of you are wondering why we are talking about persistence at church. Is persistence really something that God cares about? Yes, God cares about persistence. And the reason we are talking about it at church is because God gives us all kinds of things we need to work on in life. And He doesn t want us to give up. God wants us love our neighbors, be generous, show kindness, and study the Bible. And those are just a few of the things we need to be persistent in. The opposite of persistence is giving up. And giving up will cause us to miss out on some really important things in life. In fact, I think Rudder and Cuddy are going to learn about the difference between giving up and being persistent today. Let s see what happens. 4 Skit Part Video 4 Note: Play Skit Part Video chapter # 4. Video ends with the question What is the right thing for Rudder and Cuddy to do? So how about it, passengers? How would you answer that question on the screen? Teacher spends a few moments getting ideas and suggestions about what Rudder and Cuddy should do. Good answers! And I ll be honest, I feel bad about what happened to Rudder and Cuddy. I know that they are wrong to throw away that stuff and quit, but I also feel sorry for them. I understand why they would want to give up after a passenger was so mean to them like that. However, that s why persistence is so important. The tasks we are given won t always be easy. We ll face obstacles, 2

exhaustion, and even mean people. But something that helps me when I need encouragement to be persistent is a story from the life of Paul. He was visiting the city of Corinth, Greece, on his continuing mission to tell others about Jesus. In fact, this cruise is about to stop at Corinth, so let s learn a little about it and find out what happened to Paul. 5 Bible Story Video 5 6 7 8 Note: Play Bible Lesson Video chapter # 5. So when the people insulted him and refused to listen, Paul didn t give up. Instead he went next door and found someone to talk to about Jesus. That s the kind of persistence we need to have, especially when it comes to something important like telling others about Jesus. Not everyone will want to hear about Jesus. Some people might even make fun of you for believing in Jesus or for going to church. But even though that isn t fun, we still need to be persistent. Like Paul, we should keep at it until we find people who will listen. And we re not the only one s who need to learn about persistence. Rudder and Cuddy need to as well. And I think Captain Stern is about to teach them all about it. Let s watch. Note: Play Skit Part 2 Video chapter # 6 followed by Race Video chapter # 7. Whew, that s good. I was afraid that those two might stay depressed and never try to do anything again. I m glad the captain was able to encourage them and explain that even when things don t go quite like we hope, we still need to keep doing our job. Life can be hard sometimes, and Jesus knew that our mission of telling other people about Him wouldn t always be easy. But Jesus gave us some amazing encouragement in a speech He gave to His disciples in the book of John. And that s where we get one of my absolute favorite Bible verses of all time. Listen to this. I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. John 6:33 (NLT) 6 7 8 Skit Part 2 Video Race Bible Verse Optional: Have the children recite the verse two or three times. Then assign specific words in the verse to specific children. Have them recite the verse again with each child only saying their assigned word. Repeat this until the rhythm is smooth. Or the teacher can use a conductor-style wand and point to specific children to say the next word in the verse. I love this verse because it tells us what we should do when we face problems. Instead of telling us to give up, this verse tells us to take heart in those moments. That s another way of telling us to cheer up, or not to worry. Even though we ll have problems in this world, we are working for someone who is bigger and more powerful than the world! God wants us to be persistent in the tasks He s given us. One of those tasks is telling others about Jesus. Another task we should always persist in is living a life of worship. Let s spend a few moments now lifting our voices up to God and praising Him with music. Everyone please stand and sing with me. 3

9 0 Note: Play Everywhere Song Video chapter # 9 followed by Great Big God Song Video chapter # 0. Teacher leads the children in singing the songs and then begins the offering time. Optional: Ask for some children to volunteer to come up and to lead the songs with you. Thank you for singing. Remember, God loves it when we sing to Him and we can sing to Him in more places than just church. And singing isn t the only way we worship God, either. We also worship God when we give our tithes and offerings. This is where we bring a small portion of all God has given us and we give it back to Him. Please bow your heads and pray with me as we prepare to give. 9 Song 0 Song Offering 2 OFFERING Note: Lead the children in prayer. If you want to, include elements of the lesson you are teaching today. For instance, today we are talking about being persistent. So, you might say, God, we know that we will face problems, especially when we work to spread the message of Your Son, Jesus. Please help us to have the energy and the courage to keep going, to be persistent, when those hard times happen. We love You and we praise Your Name. Amen. Take up the offering. 2 Optional: Have two children pass the container and take up the offering. Then, have a child come up and close the offering in prayer. Thank you, everyone! But now we re going to be persistent in our lesson on persistence by learning more about persistence in our Small Groups. [2] And I hear our Personal Activity Directors are quite persistent when it comes to teaching and having fun. So enjoy, my friends, and learn a lot. 2 Small Groups Note: If the children do not change rooms for the Small Group time, review the Main Point before you begin the activities. If the children do change rooms for the Small Group time, have the children review the Main Point while they exit. Also, encourage the children to exit the room while performing some sort of creative motion. 3 Main Point 3 SMALL GROUPS Teacher greets the children as they return from Small Groups. Welcome back from your Small Groups! But don t get too comfortable, because even though we ve been learning this whole time about persistence, and even though we heard a story about Paul refusing to give up, and even though we 4

4 saw Rudder and Cuddy decide to be persistent...we re not finished yet. I want to see what you remember about our lesson today and play some Cruise Ship Games! 4 Review Game Note: For specific instructions on how to lead the children through this Review Game, you will need to print out Cruise Ship Games Lesson 6 from your Lesson Materials CD-ROM. Lead the children through the questions. Press Play when a child has given you the right answer. CLOSING Whew, that was fun and I m glad that nobody gave up! Keep putting our Main Point into practice. In fact, let s all repeat it one more time so we don t forget it: I Will Be Persistent In All I Do! Join us next week as the cruise continues! 5

Cruise Ship Games Review Game - Large Group Activity Lesson 6 - I Will Be Persistent in All I Do! PURPOSE: This is a strategic time to review and reinforce the content of the lesson. DESCRIPTION: The children will compete to answer review questions and then play different types of cruise ship themed games. MATERIALS NEEDED: For this activity you will need this Help Sheet (review questions on page 2), and the specific materials listed below for the type(s) of game you want the children to play. Note: These are suggestions for games. Feel free to adapt or replace these games to fit the needs of your space. Shuffleboard - Tape for the floor, 0 flat marbles. Scuba Trip - 2 diving masks or swim goggles, 2 snorkels, 2 pairs of flippers, 2 pairs of water wings. Clean The Deck - Tape for the floor, 20 pieces of crumpled paper, 2 buckets. Deep Sea Fishing - Tape for the floor, 2 small fishing poles with magnets on the ends, 5 paperclip fish (a small paper fish with a paperclip attached), 2 buckets. TO INTRODUCE THE ACTIVITY SAY:. We ve just spent a day on a cruise ship learning all about what life is like on a gigantic boat! 2. Now I want to see if any of you have what it takes to be employees on a cruise. 3. I need two volunteers to try and answer a question and then compete in a cruise ship game. For detailed instructions on how to lead the activity, see the Small Group Leader DVD. Note: Depending on which race you have chosen, your instructions to the children will be different. DURING THE ACTIVITY SAY:. First I will ask a question about today s lesson. The first one of you to raise your hand will get to answer the question. 2. After the question has been answered correctly, the two of you will compete as you play a game for thirty seconds. 3. Get ready for the first question! Note: Ask the review questions by reading from the screen or from page 2 of this Help Sheet. After one of the children has answered a question, have them play a round of the game you have picked, congratulate the players, reset the game, pick two new children, and move on to the next question. After all the questions, return to the script to close the service. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Ask the following questions and ask for volunteers to answer. If they answer correctly, press play.. True or false? Everyone will always want to listen to you talk about Jesus. A. True. B. False. 2. How can we be persistent in telling others about Jesus? A. If one person doesn t listen, go find someone who will listen. B. Tell others about Jesus only if you have someone else with you to help you. C. Continue to tell others about Jesus only if everyone listens to you. D. Stop telling others about Jesus if they start to reject you or make fun of you. 3. Imagine that you invite one of your friends to come to church with you and he says no and makes fun of you. How should you respond? A. Beg your friend who said no to come to church with you. B. Invite another friend to come to church with you. C. Get angry at your friend and tell him he is a bad person. D. Never invite anyone to church ever again. 4. In today s Bible Lesson, what did Paul do after he was rejected and insulted by the Jewish people in the synagogue? A. He gave up teaching and decided to start a new job. B. He kept preaching about Jesus and found people who would listen to him. C. He got angry at the people who insulted him and yelled at them for being mean. D. He became discouraged, and decided it was best not to talk to the Jewish people in the synagogue. 5. In the Skit, why did Rudder and Cuddy stop promoting the show? A. One of the performers quit the show. B. The captain told them to stop. C. They ran out of flyers. D. Someone was mean to them. 6. Fill in the blanks. I have told you all this so that you may have in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have the world. John 6:33 (NLT) A. peace, overcome. B. friendship, taken. C. rest, defeated. D. distress, destroyed. RETURN TO THE SCRIPT TO CONTINUE THE SERVICE. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

Main Point Paper Lesson 6 I Will Be Persistent In All I Do!