Thoughts From Cindy

Thoughts from Kids’ Director Cindy Garcia

It has been six months since we last met in our Kids’ Ministry classes. Six. Whole. Months! We met for two Sundays in March, but that’s all! I remember March was a busy season for our Kids’ Ministry. We were getting ready to launch our new curriculum, The Gospel Project. I wanted our church families to know how exciting this time was! Also, I was incredibly excited that we could introduce The Gospel Project curriculum to our kids and families!

***Please note: The following paragraph contains the thoughts that fill the mind of most Kids’ Directors. Read at your own risk.***

The reason I was so excited about this season? This new curriculum was going to work SO WELL for our families and teachers!!! The main story, Bible verse, and Big Picture Question is the same for each of our six classrooms. The same!!! Imagine... families would drive home from church and ask their kids what they learned in class. The drive home would seem so very short because every kid would share what they learned, and they learned the same Bible Story, the same Bible verse, and the same Big Picture Question. Oh my GOODNESS, how the conversations would last through dinner and on into the week! (That's exactly how it would have happened, right?)

Then Shelter in Place hit. Everything was put on hold. Everyone was overwhelmed, including me. There were so many emails from banks, dentists, schools, work, and even Old Navy. All of them were talking about Covid and how they were trying to make us feel safe. As the weeks went on, emails seemed endless, filled with more and more information that was already overwhelming. It just seemed like too much. During this time, I felt God’s leading to not overwhelm our Garden City families and Kids’ Ministry team. Instead, our Sunday Leads and I would use this time to encourage our kids and pray for them. We wanted to have families feel known and remind them that they are not forgotten. Again through God’s leading, we chose not to not use our new curriculum for a few months as we all got our footing into this new normal.

Finally, in July God opened up an opportunity to start using our new Gospel Project curriculum. It had been four months since our kids had walked through the doors at Garden City and welcomed into Kids’ Ministry. Even so, I wanted our families to feel equipped to teach and share with their kids big truths about God.

It has been a couple of months now and it’s been so encouraging to hear how God has been using these Sunday Kids’ Ministry videos with our Garden City families and kids. Each week I continue to hear how God’s truths are impacting our kids’ hearts. Who is God? Why can we trust God? Does God keep His promises? All of these questions are answered by our kids, parents, and Kids’ Min leaders every week.

A parent shared with me this week that a distraught friend was on the phone and asking for prayer. Their son heard them start praying from the other room and quickly came and joined in the prayer. At one point, the mom started to remind her friend how God is faithful. She shared a look with her son and together they stated our Big Picture Question: "We can trust God because he is faithful and does everything for his glory and our good." The friend wept and said hearing her friend's 5-year-old son pray that truth over her meant more than she could say. It was an awesome and Spirit-lead moment.

For a few years now, I have had the mindset that kids that attend church are not the future of the church, they are the church. My hope for Garden City’s kids is that they will have many more moments where they can see and experience God’s promises giving life to people in this difficult season. Will you pray with me that Jesus would use the kids of Garden City to “Depend on God to grow disciples deep and wide for God’s glory”?

Thank you church. You are missed and loved! -Cindy Garcia

Bonus Content: A couple weeks ago, the Deacons met up in the park for training and encouragement. We all had our masks on and kept our distances. A few families brought their young kids. After the meeting I got to go around to say hello and see how the kids were doing. At a distance, I would lower my mask so they could see my face and when they would recognize me, I’d cover my face again and kneel down to say hello and have a chat. While talking with the Ng family, Tommy saw me and headed straight in for a hug. After a quick glance at his mom and her subsequent nod, I took that offered hug. I’m telling you, there’s nothing like a good toddler hug. Sometimes you just need a good hug to give you hope and remind you that this Covid era isn’t forever. Take hope, Garden City! One day, this pandemic will come to an end. I love you families and I love your kids. I can’t wait until we can all get those hugs again.

13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. -Romans 15:13 (CSB)