Slides and Printables.zip

Slides and Printables

Program Videos.zip

Program Videos

7 Min Countdown

03 sec Countdown

2 Min Countdown

Herman and Rusty Act 2

H&R Big Do Slide

4 Minute Timer

6 Min Countdown

3 Min Countdown

Herman and Rusty Act 1

60 sec Countdown

Big Story Video

Herman and Rusty Act 3

Herman and Rusty Title

H&R BIG REVIEW Bumper

H&R 5 Min Countdown with Rules

Sophia is convinced that her bad luck is here to stay, can Herman show her that better days are ahead?

Large Group Full Program

⦁	Question of the Day: Who is the friend you’ve had the longest, and how long have you two been friends?



Countdown / Rules

For this Welcome, have the contestants wear a Velcro suit. You can easily make your own by affixing Velcro strips to a white painter’s suit or similar coveralls.  



**Host**

Let’s begin today with a fun game. It’s all about being the stickiest person here. We have two teams who will compete to be the ultimate champion.





Bring up two teams of two kids. Have one of the kids already in the Velcro suit.





**Co-Host**

One team member will toss the Velcro balls at their teammate. Your job is to try to catch them with your suit. You can’t use your hands to catch the balls, but you can move backward and side to side.



**Host**

We’ll have each team take turns. Let’s see who can catch the most in 60 seconds.





Optional, play game music. Play a round, and then switch to the other team. If you have two Velcro suits, you can play one round, with the contestants competing simultaneously. Count the number of balls caught.





**Host**

They were very sticky competitors, for sure. Do you ever wish you could walk down the street and have really good stuff just stick to you like Velcro?



**Co-Host**

I do. The good news for Jesus’ followers is that there are good things from God that stick to us.



**Host**

Psalm 23 tells us about those. Listen closely during today’s service. Let’s see what sticky situation our friends are in at the lab today, as we do tell someone nearby which is stickier in your opinion: marshmallows or caramel.



Welcome

Worship

**Host**

Sophia is convinced she’s attracting all kinds of bad things because she broke a mirror.



**Co-Host**

She might feel like she has a curse, but our feelings don’t always tell the truth.



**Host**

That’s why we need to check what we think or feel against what is true. Each week, we learn a true Big Point from the Bible. Let’s check out our Big Point and see what it says.





**Host** and **Co-Host** choose a kid to volunteer.







**Co-Host**

After we count down from three, will you please read the Big Point.









**Co-Host**

Let’s all say it together, **The Lord Is My Hope!** Even when bad things happen, we trust God has a plan for our lives.



**Host**

I wish I could say that bad things will never happen. That’s not true. King David, who wrote Psalm 23, had lots of problems. Some of them were because of his wrong choices, and some because of others’ evil choices. Either way, God never gave up on David.



**Co-Host**

Hope is trusting in God’s promises despite not knowing how it’s all going to work out. Let’s play a group game. I’m going to show you a picture. In this picture, there are ten hidden items.



Engage 1 Slides - P23 Elem L4 Engage 1 Slide A.jpg

Show the image. This image is a small portion of the entire picture.



**Host**

Let’s see how many we can find. 





Allow the kids to shout out the answers. Challenge them to find the other elements that aren’t in this small portion of the entire picture.







**Co-Host**

You guys seem to be struggling to find all the missing items. What’s the problem? (Pause) Are you sure they are there? How do you know that?



**Host**

Because we told you there are ten items to find. What do you think is the problem with this picture? (Pause) You’re only seeing a small part of the big picture. Look at this.







Engage 1 Slides - P23 Elem L4 Engage 1 Slide B.jpg

**Host**

In the same way, we often only see what’s happening around us at that moment. We don’t see everything that God sees. He sees the whole picture and knows His big plan. Our hope is in the fact that God is working out His plan for our good.



**Co-Host**

That’s exactly what Sophia needs to hear.



Engage 1

Prep Note: On the t-shirts, write “Goodness” and “Love.”



**Co-Host**

Let’s repeat the Big Point, 

**Co-Host**

**The Lord Is My Hope!**



**Host**

Sophia’s worried that black cats and ladders are giving her bad luck. We call those superstitions, and superstitions are super fake. Those things can’t force bad things to happen.



**Co-Host**

Unfortunately, people sometimes believe untrue things, and it causes them to act like Sophia. We’re blessed because we have God’s Word to teach us what is true.



**Host**

Let’s choose an assistant to help us reveal the true things that King David wrote in the Big Verse.





**Host** and **Co-Host** choose a kid to volunteer.







**Co-Host**

After we count down from three, you can read the verse. 





**Host**

Psalm 23:6 (NIrV), “I am sure that goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.” That verse means that God’s good blessings and love will pursue us and hunt us down. We usually think bad things are coming after us, but the Bible says God’s good things want to pounce on us.



**Co-Host**

Let’s play a game. It’s a game of tag. These contestants wearing flags will try to avoid these two players trying to catch them. Can you see what’s on their shirt?





Bring all the contestants on stage. Choose as many kids as your space allows, and give each one a flag football belt before the Engage begins. For the two contestants who will tag the kids, have them wear the t-shirts. 





**Host**

They say “goodness” and “love.” Those two are going to attempt to remove one of the two flags on as many kids as possible. Let’s see how many they can catch in 60 seconds.





Optional, play game music. Play the game. Have the kids who have a flag removed sit.







**Co-Host**

It’s crazy that some people try to avoid God’s goodness and love by not following Him. When you make Jesus your Leader, you can be sure that the good things from God are ready to pounce.



**Host**

Before we hear today’s Big Story, let’s take a moment to stop and worship God.



Engage 2

One of the best ways to remind yourself of God’s goodness and mercy is by placing your focus on Jesus through saying His Word and worshipping Him. When you speak God’s Word and worship in spite of how you feel, you exercise your faith. Let’s repeat our verses from Psalm 23 together. “The Lord is my Shepherd. He guides me in the right paths. I will not be afraid. You are with me. My cup runs over. I am sure that goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.”  (Repeat one or two more times)



Big Story

**Host**

Even when the Israelites made choices that pushed God away, His goodness and love still followed them. That’s the story of everyone. We’ve all done the wrong thing at times, but God still sent Jesus to save all of us.



**Co-Host**

God never gives up on us. Let’s say our Big Point again, 

**Co-Host**

**The Lord Is My Hope!**



**Host**

Let’s check out this week’s Big Do, so we can learn how to talk with our family about the Big Point. 





**Co-Host**

Today’s Big Do is to have everyone in your family share something they are hopeful for this year.



**Host**

There’s a great verse from 

**Host**

Lamentations 3:23 (NIrV). It says, “His great love is new every morning. Lord, how faithful you are!” It’s a good reminder of how God’s blessings keep coming day after day.



**Co-Host**

Let’s think of something we could praise God for each day of the week as we remember His goodness and love.





Interview a few kids about what they could praise God for on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.





**Host**

I love that we can trust God and not lose hope in His help. Let’s gather in our Small Groups and discuss today’s lesson.



Engage 3

Gather the kids into Small Groups and discuss the following. 





 - How have you experienced God’s love and help this week?

 - What mistake did the Israelites keep making? **Worshipping false gods.**

 - How did God respond even after all those mistakes? **He didn’t forget about them and had a plan to help them.**

 - What does it mean in Psalm 23 that God’s goodness and love follow us? **God’s help and blessings are available to us, even when problems happen. He loves to help us. He won’t forget about us.**

 - What is this week’s Big Do? **Have everyone in your family share something they are hopeful for this year.**



Small Group 

Choose two kids from the audience to come on stage and answer the question. 

 - Our Big Point says, The Lord Is My ______!

    - **Hope**



 - What happened to the Israelites because of pushing God away?

    - **Another country defeated them**

    - They became an empire



 - What was Sophia trying to get rid of at the lab?

    - Old clothes

    - **Bad luck**



 - Psalm 23:6 (NIrV), “I am sure that goodness and love will ______ me all the days of my life.”

    - **Follow**

    - Avoid



 - God had promised a long time before bad things happened to help Israel.

    - **True**

    - False



 - What are some examples of God’s goodness and love to us?



 - When the Israelites were prisoners in another country, God forgot about them.

    - True

    - **False**



 - God’s help is only available if you don’t make mistakes.

    - True

    - **False**



 - How does it help us to know that we can put our trust in God’s goodness towards us?



 - What is this week’s Big Do? **Have everyone in your family share something they are hopeful for this year**

Big Review

Large Group Abbreviated

**Co-Host**

Wow! My fingers are really sore! I just spent 20 minutes pulling sticky burrs off of my socks! I was just walking at the park earlier and next thing I know my socks are sticky with bad stuff.

**Host**

Do you ever wish you could walk down the street and have really good stuff just stick to you?

**Co-Host**

I do. The good news for Jesus’ followers is that there are good things from God that stick to us.

**Host**

Psalm 23 tells us about those. Listen closely during today’s service. Let’s see what sticky situation our friends are in at the lab today, as we do tell someone nearby which is stickier in your opinion: marshmallows or caramel.

**Co-Host**

Let’s all say it together, **The Lord Is My Hope!** Even when bad things happen, we trust God has a plan for our lives.

**Host**

I wish I could say that bad things will never happen. That’s not true. King David, who wrote Psalm 23, had lots of problems. Some of them were because of his wrong choices, and some because of others’ evil choices. Either way, God never gave up on David.

**Co-Host**

Hope is trusting in God’s promises despite not knowing how it’s all going to work out. 

**Host**

That's true, we often only see what’s happening around us at that moment. We don’t see everything that God sees. He sees the whole picture and knows His big plan. Our hope is in the fact that God is working out His plan for our good.

**Co-Host**

That’s exactly what Sophia needs to hear.

**Host**

Psalm 23:6 (NIrV), “I am sure that goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.” That verse means that God’s good blessings and love will pursue us and hunt us down. We usually think bad things are coming after us, but the Bible says God’s good things want to pounce on us.



**Co-Host**

Today’s Big Do is to have everyone in your family share something they are hopeful for this year.



**Host**

There’s a great verse from Lamentations 3:23 (NIrV). It says, “His great love is new every morning. Lord, how faithful you are!” It’s a good reminder of how God’s blessings keep coming day after day.

**Co-Host**

Let’s think of something we could praise God for each day of the week as we remember His goodness and love.

Midweek/Classroom

Countdown / Rules / Split Into Groups

Welcome to the Lab! We are so glad you are here! I HOPE you are having a great week. I HOPE you are ready to play some fun games today. I HOPE you are ready to sing and dance during worship. Any guesses about what we will hear about today? You will find out very soon. As we get started, turn to your Small Group Leaders to talk about the Question of the Day. 





Small Group Leader,

Use this time to introduce yourself to your kids, review the rules, and discuss the Question of the Day. Use the ball to signify whose turn it is to talk. If someone wants to answer the question, have that kid raise their hand. Then the Small Group Leader throws that kid the ball. When the kid finishes talking, they throw the ball back to the Small Group Leader, who then chooses the next person to answer.



**Question of the Day: What do you hope you will get for your next birthday or for Christmas?**







This month, we have been looking at Psalm 23. Does anybody remember who wrote Psalm 23? Right! King David! He wrote tons of songs to God, and they help us remember how good God is and how He brings good things to us. This reminds me of a game. Who’s ready for Lab Wars? Everyone gets to play today’s game! 



The game is simple. It’s boys versus girls. The goal of the game is to create the longest snake before the timer goes off. One boy and one girl will start each line, and as they pass by each group, the Small Group Leader will choose one person to join their team. Each time they pass a different Small Group, a new person joins the snake line. You must stay connected with your line the whole time, and you can’t run into anyone. Be careful not to run into the other team, or, as your line gets longer, be sure not to run into your own team. Play continues until the timer goes off, and we will see if the boys or the girls have the longest line. Ready? Go!





Optional, play game music. Choose 1 boy and 1 girl to get the game started. As they pass each group, boys will pick up 1 boy, and girls will pick up 1 girl. Have Small Group Leaders help facilitate who joins the line. When the timer finishes, count the number of kids in each snake line and declare a winner. 





Congratulations to our winning team! You guys had to work hard to stick together. We will discover today what kinds of things stick to us and what should follow us wherever we go. Don’t worry, these are good things. Let’s check in at the Lab to see what our friends are up to this week.



Lab Wars

Sophia is convinced she’s attracting all kinds of bad things because she broke a mirror. She might feel like she has a curse, but our feelings don’t always tell the truth. However, the Bible does! Each week, our Big Point comes from the Bible. I need a Small Group to help me count down from three to reveal today’s Big Point.

**The Lord Is My Hope!** Hope means that we trust in God, no matter what. Even when bad things happen, or we aren’t sure how everything will work out, we can trust that God always helps us and comes through for us. This would be a great thing for us to remember all the time! In your Small Groups, you have a bookmark with our Big Point on it. Spend some time decorating it and talking with your groups about what hope means to us. 



Small Group Leader,

Pass out one bookmark to each kid and let them decorate. As they color, talk about these questions. 



⦁	What does hope mean? To trust God, believe He brings good things, trust that it will be okay

⦁	When can we trust God? During a test at school, when we are scared, when something sad happens



Optional Questions for Older Groups

⦁	What are some situations you are facing in which it would help you to remember that the Lord is your hope?

⦁	How can we help ourselves remember that God has a good plan when we face a tough time? Pray, read God’s Word, keep on putting good things in so good things can come out



This could be a great time to do a check-in with your older groups on their daily habits - do they pray, read their Bible, etc? What good habits do they have in place? If they don’t, help give ideas on some to start!



When the timer reads one minute, the Leader gives a warning to finish up the craft and clean up the materials.



Hold up those bookmarks. Wow! You all did a fantastic job decorating them! When you go home today, put this somewhere that you will see it often. That way, you will always be reminded that 

**The Lord Is My Hope!** Let’s check back in with Sophia to see if she has figured this out yet. 





Sophia is choosing to believe in some things that are not true. It would really help her to believe in what God says rather than what the world says. We know that everything in the Bible is true, so that is what we base our lives on. Let’s see what the Bible says in our Big Verse. I need a Small Group to help me count it down and reveal what it is. 





Psalm 23:6 (NIrV), “I am sure that goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.” This verse means that God’s goodness and love follow us all the time! Instead of thinking bad things are after us, we know the Bible says good things are in store. You get to play a fun game with your Small Groups. Here’s how it works. You have a bucket of balls with different words on them. Each person in your group gets to take a turn tossing one of the balls at the target to see if it sticks. Ready? Go! 





Small Group Leader,

Choose one kid at a time to choose a ball, read the word, and toss it at the target. Then discuss why the ball did or did not stick to the target. The idea is that only the balls that have words about goodness and love will stick. Continue playing as time allows.



When the timer is down to one minute, the Leader can give a warning to start finishing up the game and putting things away.











Awesome job! I’m so glad that we have God’s goodness and love that sticks to us, no matter what. Let’s check out a true story from the Bible.

One of the best ways to remind yourself of God’s goodness and love is by placing your focus on Jesus through saying His Word and worshipping Him. When you speak God’s Word and worship, in spite of how you feel, you exercise your faith. Let’s repeat our verses from Psalm 23 together. “The Lord is my Shepherd. He guides me in the right paths. I will not be afraid. You are with me. My cup runs over. I am sure that goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.”  (Repeat one or two more times) Great job! Let’s see if Sophia has learned this truth. 





I’m so glad Sophia chose to follow our Big Point,

**The Lord Is My Hope!** You can share our Big Point when you do this week’s Big Do.

Today’s Big Do is to have everyone in your family share something they are hopeful for this year. Turn to our Small Groups to wrap up today’s service.

Small Group Leader,

Wrap up your Small Group by passing out positive reinforcement, praying for your group, and doing a team cheer.

The Lord Is My Hope

Venue

Sections

Downloads

About

Large Group Full Program Instructions

The Lord Is My Hope Instructions