Children's Education
White Bluff Chapel provides education and Christian fellowship programs for children. For the children’s safety and protection, adults who interact with the children are members of the Chapel who have had a background check completed by the Chapel’s child protection committee.
Also for their protection and safety, children must have a registration form on file with the Children's Ministry office
in order to participate in any activities at the Chapel. For the parents' convenience, once the form is filled out and submitted for a child, no other paperwork will be required for that child throughout the rest of the year.
Nursery care is available every Sunday morning for children, infants through age 3, throughout the duration of the worship service. Two adults are present to care for the needs of the little ones. The facility is furnished and supplied with the materials needed to properly care for the needs of babies and young children.
Children’s Sunday School is taught during a portion of the Sunday morning worship service. Children age 3 through 11 may participate in this activity. Sign up takes place at the Children’s Room door prior to the beginning of the worship service. Children attend the opening of the worship service with their parents or grandparents until the Sunday School teachers collect them from the Sanctuary during the singing of the Doxology. Typical classes include a Bible story and memory verse. Related games, skits, puppets, activities and crafts may also be a part of the experience. A snack is served every session. Adults collect their children from the Children’s Room immediately following the worship service and are encouraged to join with them in the after-worship fellowship time in the Maurice Martin Fellowship Hall. When children reach their 12th birthday, they graduate from Sunday School and are encouraged to participate in the adult activities of the Chapel, including worship service, adult Sunday School and the like.
Sunday School curricula at White Bluff Chapel are Bible based and chosen for content, continuity and age-appropriateness. With White Bluff’s retirement and resort population, Sunday School attendance varies significantly. Dedicated, creative teachers and helpers are prepared to make the Sunday School experience enjoyable and educational for all children attending on any Sunday morning. Special Sunday School events, such as A Birthday Party for Jesus, are planned for holiday times.
A selection of Christian children’s books is available to be borrowed from the Children’s Library. The library is housed in a child-sized bookcase in the Children’s Room. A card check-out system can be found with the books. Books may be borrowed to occupy a child during a Chapel activity or to enjoy at home.
The children of White Bluff Chapel participate in the sacrament of Holy Communion, according to the preference and with the guidance of their parents. Twice each year the Pastors present an informative session on Baptism and Communion at White Bluff Chapel. Children who will be partaking of Communion and their parents attend the sessions to learn about the meaning of the sacraments and the process at White Bluff Chapel. The dates and times of the sessions are published when sign-up begins and will be noted on the Children’s Ministry calendar.
Kid’s Klub is an opportunity for children age 5 through 12 to come to know and love the Lord more fully as they learn about Him through music, skits, mission activities, Bible memory and participating in Chapel services. The group meets on Sunday evenings during the fall in October, November, and December, and in the spring in March and April. A sample of Kid’s Klub activities can be seen at holiday times when the children share the Lord’s love by making Valentines for shut-ins, present dramatizations on Christmas Eve and Palm Sunday, and sing or recite during Chapel services. Harriet and Glenn Carrell lead Kid’s Klub. Contact them at 254-694-7263 if you have or know a child who would like to be a member of Kid’s Klub.
White Bluff Chapel Children’s Ministry sponsors other events and programs throughout each year. Vacation Bible School and Trunk or Treat are two of the most popular.
 | ission | Items for the Needy Collected by Heroes in Christ Kids | |||
| oment | July, 2011 | |||
A focus of this year's VBS activities was that of being a hero to others by helping the less fortunate. In addition to the going out in the community to do mission work each day of the week for the Heroes in Christ kids, aged 10-13 yrs., all 91 children enrolled in VBS were encouraged to contribute items to the different types of collections being conducted at White Bluff Chapel.
The highlight of the collections came on Friday when the children collected shoes. All the VBS children wore the shoes to class that morning that they were planning to give to children in need. During the closing services, they brought their shoes to the front of the sanctuary and left them on the steps. Going home barefoot helped them experience what it feels like to be without shoes. It is estimated that a minimum of 160 pairs of shoes were donated that day. Last year the donated shoes were distributed by the Southwest Good Samaritan Ministries. The idea behind that gift was that the children of White Bluff came to chapel wearing shoes and went home barefoot so that the children of SWGSM, who always come to church barefoot, could go home wearing shoes.
This year's shoe collection will go to victims of the tornadoes that struck Joplin, Missouri and parts of Alabama. The night the Joplin tornadoes hit, several small towns in Alabama were also struck bay tornadoes. The smaller communities do not receive the media attention nor the help from national organizations that larger communities do. While some churches have been sending aid to these small communities, shoes have not been collected yet and are greatly in need.
The brother of WBC member Danny Bodeker is a pastor of a church in Lufkin where a member of his congregation is working to coordinate distribution of the shoes in the devastated communities. Our VBS children were highly motivated by this hero's story. Seven boxes of shoes, totally 182 lbs, were shipped to "Mr. Larry" this week, with even more scheduled for shipping soon.
Whitney's Our Daily Bread Food Bank was the recipient of generous bags of non-perishables contributed all week by the children, as well as being the site of the Monday morning volunteer work done by the more than thirty visiting VBS kids in the Heroes in Christ classes. Five young ladies felt so strongly about volunteering at the Food Bank that they even went back on their own to help one afternoon during the week.
VBS collected gently-used clothing for the Thrift store at King Memorial Methodist Church, and the first batch was delivered by our Heroes in Christ when they did volunteer work there on Tuesday. They also collected used eye glasses to be delivered to the Lions Club and beverage can pop tops that will be sent to the Lilies. These women, who are part of the Southwest Good Samaritan Ministries on the Texas-Mexican border, make bracelets, belts, hat bands and other items from the pop tops and sell them at a local market.
The Heroes in Christ kids worked at the Food Bank, King Memorial Thrift Store and Isaiah's Place during the week. They provided the equivalent of 48 hours of labor at Isaiah's Place, saving the camp director one entire week of work. They also visited the residents of Park Plaza, where they sang for the residents and visited those who are room-bound. They delivered to the residents a stained glass window craft made by the younger children at VBS and participated in reading Bible verses for them.
WBS member and Mission Committee Chairman Jean Rose and her team assumed the responsibility of collecting, organizing and distributing the huge piles of donated items left at the end of the week
| ission | VBS Inspires & Helps Those of All Ages | |||
| oment | June, 2011 | |||
The White Bluff Chapel 2011 Vacation Bible School has set all-time enrollment figures this week by accommodating a record-breaking ninety-one participants plus more than one volunteer for every two students. The Super Hero theme, focusing on Jesus’ miracles, has proven to be of enormous popularity and has helped the children to acknowledge that of all the super heroes, only Jesus can perform miracles.
The 10-13 age group, for the second year in a row, ventured out into the Whitney community to be heroes themselves as they did volunteer work at different mission venues. Monday, they stocked shelves at Our Daily Bread Food Bank, Tuesday they worked at King Memorial Thrift Shop, Wednesday found them reading Bible verses and visiting with residents at Park Plaza Nursing Home, and Thursday they did some painting at Isaiah’s Place.
Friday is the day set aside to feature collections of donation items to benefit the needy, including non-perishable food items, gently-used clothing and shoes, eye glasses and beverage can pop tops. Art class projects throughout the week provided opportunities for the children to make items to give to others as reminders of Jesus’ miracles, such as “fish” critters to be delivered to the hospitals for the sick and injured children in need of comfort.
Wednesday noon the VBS staff served birthday cake in honor of Director Kay Lea Scott’s birthday. That evening they sponsored an outdoor movie, “Because of Winn Dixie,” at the White Bluff Old Course pavilion. Friday morning at 10:15, a culmination program is slated, with visitors welcome, to be followed at noon by a picnic in the Fellowship Hall for all participants and visitors.