Well, another summer has come and gone, and the new school year is here. Typically a new school year for a child means new clothes, new school supplies, a new backpack, and possibly even a new lunch box. For the parent, it means paying for those new clothes and packing lunches to go in that new lunch box. Whether for the parent or child… the new school year ultimately means change. Well, The MET is not immune to these changes, and I want to share with you some changes in three primary areas; Promotion Sunday, Sunday Programming for Adventure Outpost (1-6th Grade), and Self Check-in.

Promotion Sunday – Date Change from 08.23.09 to 09.13.09

Every year about this time at The MET we have what is called Promotion Sunday. That is when we “promote” all of our school-aged kids from one grade to another within Life Groups. Originally we had scheduled that date to be August 23, but with some exciting new changes in our Preschool/Children’s Ministries, we have had to delay/move that date to September 13. What this means is that our Preschool, Children, and Student kids will simply continue their current programming for another 3 Sundays from what was originally planned.

Sunday Programming for Adventure Outpost (1-6th Grade)

We are in the process of making significant programming and environmental changes in both the 1-3 Grade and 4-6 Grade worship environments. By upgrading technology, making needed building modifications, and just generally freshening things up, our kids will continue to have a relevant, engaging place to grow and invite their friends.

In addition, the Sunday programming will change on September 13 so that each hour (8:15, 9:30, and 11:00) will have a healthy balance of both large and small group time. Instead of having one hour for Worship and one hour for Life Groups, our kids will gather at the beginning of each hour in one of their two respective worship environments (1st – 3rd in The Ark, and 4th – 6th in Route 56). In those environments the kids will experience a fun, high-energy and engaging time of worship and Bible study for about 30 minutes. They will then dismiss with their Life Group Teacher to their classroom for a time of further Bible study, interaction, and relevant application for about 40 minutes. Note: you will drop kids off in the large rooms, and pick kids up from their classroom.

If your child is here on Sunday morning for more than just one hour, then the Life Group Teacher will simply take the kids back to the worship environment/large room where they will repeat the same process and transitions. Although the process and transitions mentioned above will remain the same during the second hour, your child’s experience will change just enough to keep their attention while still maintaining an environment that is fun and engaging. In addition, this type of programming will allow our kids to benefit from repetitious and iterative learning.

Self Check-in

Check-in just got easier! The MET is now offering an exciting new self check-in feature to help speed up your check-in process. To speed up the check-in process, each station has been equipped with a bar code scanner. No more waiting in line to get your name typed in and pulled up. Now you simply scan a key-fob/card, print, and go. It's that easy!

We are currently in the process of sending out these key-fobs/cards to all of our regular attendees with kids in our Preschool/Children’s Ministries. You can get a head-start by clicking here to watch a short instructional video.

There more to share… so make sure you check back here for further updates, pictures, and some video of our facility upgrades.

God Bless!

Wanting to be like Him,

Pastor Robbie