by Abram Kim
The Children’s Ministry at LBC is no different from any other ministry at church it its purposes and goals. We exist to fulfill the church’s Mission, Vision, and Passion (MVP) to children of elementary school age and younger. Functionally, we partner with the parents at LBC to teach Biblically-sound curricula Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings, which also allows the parents to worship God freely without worrying about their children. As a ministry, our hearts seek to echo Asaph’s words in Psalm 78, to pass on the glory and greatness of the Lord to the next generation, that “they should set their hope in God.” (Psalm 78:7a)
Our Sunday School programs consists of Sonlight (for our elementary-age children, led by me), Sparklers (preschool-age children, led by Mike Hasegawa), and Fireflies (the cute and ever-growing nursery, led by Carol Lim and Lillian To); our Wednesday evening program is called Lighthouse Kids Club (LKC) and is led by Pastor JR. Pastor Patrick has pastoral oversight over all the children’s programs at LBC. I have included a complete list of current staff at the bottom of the article. Please feel free to talk to any of the leaders if you have further questions about any of the respective ministries.
For the past two years we have used children’s curricula from Children Desiring God, which is associated with Bethlehem Baptist Church where John Piper preaches and teaches. Sonlight’s curriculum this year is called “Faithful to All His Promises” (contact Mike, Carol, and Pastor JR for specifics on the Sparklers, Fireflies, and LKC curricula, respectively). In the fall we laid the foundation, defining the nature of promises and the nature of God, particularly focusing on His faithfulness. For example, when you say you are going to do something, even if you don’t use the words, “I promise,” it is as good as a promise. You should follow through with what you say you’ll do. God always follows through on all His promises recorded in Scripture. Some promises are just for believers (e.g., He will complete His work in us, eternal life, and His love) and some are just for unbelievers (e.g., judgment). We have started to look at specific promises God gave in Scripture in November 2009 and will continue to study the many promises God has made this year. I exhort you to ask the Sonlight kids and staff about the promises we are learning and how we are growing in our faith!
Thank you for reading this article on LBC’s Children’s Ministry. Please take some time now to pray for the children of LBC. Pray for the salvation and growing faith of these young souls as they grow up in a culture and society that seems to be getting more hostile to Christianity and our Lord. Pray for the parents as they seek to rear their children in a God-honoring way. Pray for the staff as we seek to faithfully preach and teach the Word in a way that the children would understand, and to be able to build relationships with them in discipleship. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me at church or via email (abram.kim@gmail.com).
Sonlight Staff: David Ahn, Cindy Chu, David Jung, Abram Kim, Daniel “Diddy” Kim, Susan Kim, Josh Lee, Steph Lim (soon to be McAdams!), Kristen Yee
Sparklers Staff: Kyle Grindley, Mike Hasegawa, Kent Hong, Romi Hong, Sarah Hu, Ribecca Lee, Joyce Park
Fireflies Staff: Becky Areekul, Beverly Chan, Jenny Chang, Ying Chen, Amy Cheng, Moon Choi, Ji Young Choy, Carol Chung (soon to be Bae!), Eun Hee Han, Brenda Hom, Tina Huynh, Jane Kim, Yuen Kwong, Elizabeth Lee, Jocelyn Lee, Andrea Lem, Carol Lim, Jinny Lim, Maria Oh (soon to be Ko!), Kim Phan, Lynn Preslar, Elaine Sarmiento, Leah Shen, Sarah Shen, Jen Shih, Laurie Su, Alice Ting, Lillian To, France Wang, Shelby Wong
LKC Staff: Paul Chen, Ying Chen, Daniel Chong, JR Cuevas, Kathy Cuevas, Sarah Hu, David Jung, Harold Kim, Josh Lee, Vince Liang, Daniel Yee, Joo Yoon