For the Pastoral Notes today, I’ve asked our Children’s Ministry Director, Meredith Suits, to report on this past year of ministry. —Nate
Dear Cornerstone Family,
Amidst all the graduations and celebrations in this busy month of May, the children’s ministry also celebrated the end of another school year. We enjoyed several months of Sunday School and Midweek classes and have much to report and many volunteers to thank.
In August, we began our Sunday School year with 8 full classes of kids— the most classes we’ve ever had on Sunday mornings! Our PreK 3s, led by Joe and Joy Marlo and Faith Crampton, explored the Old Testament, learned several songs, and memorized Psalm 1. Our PreK 4s, led by Ronda Laventure, Teresa Whittaker, and Betsy Garland, used the Show Me Jesus preschool curriculum and studied several stories from the Old and New Testaments.
Our Kindergarten and 1st Grade classes used The Biggest Story curriculum from Kevin DeYoung. Colleen McGarry and Bonnie Snyder focused on the Old Testament stories in this curriculum with their Kindergarten class, and Alli Faulk and Eleanor Ware led the 1st graders through most of the Old Testament as well.
In the 2nd grade class, Lucy Lilly and Julie Finch spent the year studying the First Catechism for children. These 2nd graders worked hard to learn 150 questions through the course of the year.
3rd Grade, as well as our combined 4th/5th Grade class, piloted a new curriculum from Ligonier called Growing in God’s Word, an overview of the whole Bible in one year. Sue Gamble and Kent Coughlin led the 3rd graders and Matt O’Roark and Sean Kelley the 4th/5th graders, who were so excited to head over to The Corner House each week for class.
Last but not least, our 6th graders were engaged in lots of great conversations about the New City Catechism with Dave Raymond and Sabrina Brewer, digging into foundational theological truths together over at The Corner House.
Jessica Michaud continued in her role as the unofficial Midweek Curriculum Mastermind in the fall and the spring, writing 13 weeks of lessons for all ages from Acts, 1 Kings, and several other pieces from the New Testament. Rebecca Hassee, Matt and Kimbra Johnston, and Joanie Pittman taught these lessons each week with assistance from Mark Mitchell, John Mark Gulliver, James Goddard, Emily Jebasingh, Abigail Hicks, and Rachael Zecher. Our Midweek preschool team effectively led a group of almost 20 preschoolers—what a gift Bethany Holder, Talula Adams, Kelly Abercrombie, and Katie Ewing were to our youngest kiddos!
Children’s choirs led by Jessica Michaud and Jen Westerbeek prepared and presented an Advent performance not only to our church but also at the Dickens of a Christmas Festival in downtown Franklin, a new experience for our ministry! You may have also noticed our new quarterly publication Parenting at the Corner in various places around the church. Many thanks to Lisa Fiedler and Lauren Smith for writing and designing this helpful resource for parents. There were many more of you who willingly stepped in to sub in our Sunday school and midweek classes and provided support to our children and parents. We appreciate you so much.
Please find these volunteers today and encourage them in their ministry. We have a wealth of talents in our Cornerstone body, and more importantly, we have talented people who take the call to serve and love our children and answer it with humility, commitment, and joy.
We are looking forward to VBS and summer Sunday School, which will be led by a whole new group of volunteers. Stay tuned for more updates about the work God is doing through our volunteers and through you as you pray for us.
Your servant,
Meredith Suits