First Baptist Church of Ojai, California

Playground Progress

New Playground

The old playground is being dismantled to make room for a new up-to-code version.

Excuse Our Dust

You may notice the remodeling project going on in our church's nursery.  We are working hard to create a most excellent space for ministering to infants and their families.  We want to create an environment where parents are absolutely comfortable in entrusting their children to us.  Thanks to Tammy, Cyndi, and Richard for spearheading this important project. 

Kids' Movie Night!

What?  Free movie night for kids (ages 5-11)

When?  This coming Saturday night at 6 PM.

Where?  Smith Hall at First Baptist Church on the Big Screen

"Kidmo!" Session 2

A new session of "Kidmo!" begins this Sunday at 11:00 AM.  This session's theme is "Soar" and emphasizes how big God is even in comparison to the universe.  Tell your friends about the wonderful, crazy, meaningful time that you have at "Kidmo!" each week. 

Family Worship

Worship this Sunday is going to be very special.  It is the first of what we are calling a "Family Worship".  These will take place every 6th Sunday.  Our children's curriculum "Kidmo!" runs in 5 week cycles.  During these 6th Sunday Family Worship Services, the children will worship with the adults and the service will be very relevant to all age groups.  This Sunday Zack Harwood is going to be baptized.  Come and celebrate with us!

We're Off and Running!

Week number 1 of "Victory Lane" with Kidmo was a great success.  We have an incredible team of adults who are ministering to the children.  Here is a little testimony from our house.  Each week the kids receive a handout called a Map Book.  "Map" stands for "Mission Action Plan."  The Map book is something that the kids work on throughout the week, putting their weekly lesson into action.  Anna completed her Map book on Sunday and said that she wished that it were longer because she's already done.  In addition, her room light was on last night after she was supposed to be going to bed.  When we asked her what she was doing, she said she was making cards to memorize this week's memory verse.  Go Kidmo!

Victory Lane Starts Its Engines on July 1st!

Children's Ministry Dream Session #3 took place on Wednesday evening.  Our new children's director Javai led the meeting and was incredible.  Way to go Javai!  We are on target for a July 1st launch.  Children, start your engines!

It's Here!

The "Kidmo" curriculum arrived in the mail yesterday.  It felt a little bit like Christmas morning.  Members of the Children's Ministry Dream Team will be contacted about our next meeting and what's next.  Go God!

Report From Children's Ministry Dream Session #2

What a productive meeting we had last night.  Here are some of the highlights.

1. Javai Fletcher will be our Children's Ministry coordinator.  On April 15th our church family began to fervently pray for six emerging leaders.  The Children's Director was one of these six.  Javai is gifted and passionate in the area of children's ministry.  God has richly blessed us with her. 

2. We will use the "Kidmo" curriculum from 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM on Sunday mornings (Kids will be a part of the morning service for the first 15 minutes).  "Kidmo" is a multi-media driven curriculum which is creative, fun, and extremely intentional in its teaching.  We sampled the curriculum by way of the internet and it definitely created a great deal of excitement. 

3. We have chosen the name "Victory Lane" for our children's ministry using a race car theme.  It was quite remarkable how we arrived at the name.  The adults were completely stuck, unhappy with the results of our brainstorming.  Then Josh piped up and said, "If you wanted to use a race car theme (unmentioned at the time), then how about Victory Lane?"  It clicked with every single one of us.  It reminded me of the scene in "Field of Dreams" where the adults are arguing about the finanicial viability of the baseball field, and the little girl speaks up and casts a vision for what the field will become.  "And a child shall lead them..."

4. Next Dream Session meeting time will be established when the curriculum comes in.  Thanks for your prayers.  God is moving.