Hey roadcrew fans! I am super excited to tell you about this very cool thing that some of our staff is going to be doing in April after the tour is over. Four of our staff members from the tour will be running in the Oklahoma City Marathon to help raise money for Active Water. Active Water is an organization that we have partnered up with this year who helps provide clean water to the people of Zambia Africa through some pretty cool Bio-Sand water filters.

This year at SuperStart! we have been teaching the students from Ephesians 2:10 that they were created to do Good Works. At the event we challenge them to think of what God Given gifts they have that they can use for his Kingdom right now! We have seen some overwhelming responses. We have recieved stories about preteens who have organized garage sales, benefit concerts, and even a community basketball tournament to help raise money for Active Water. It has been amazing to hear these stories! These preteens have done something else….they have inspired our staff.

We have been so touched by what these preteens have been doing that we decided we wanted to do something outside of the tour to help raise money as well. Three of our staff members and our tour drummer will be running on April 25th to show our support for active water and love for those in Africa that they are trying to help. If you would like to learn more about what we are doing please check out our donation page at: http://www.active.com/donate/activewaterupick/superstart If you like us are inspired by what is being done through the ministry of CIY then please feel free to click on the “Donate Now” button to the right. Know that your money is doing huge things not just locally, but around the world. We are truley blessed to be a part of this ministry and to have people like YOU who step beside us in this journey. All for God’s Glory!

-The SS! Staff

Sharing what it means to serve in God’s kingdom has been an exciting message to share with preteens this year. But what has been even more exciting are all the stories we’ve been hearing of the preteens who have responded to this message. Here is a story that Steve Birchfield, a preteen pastor from Generations Christian Church in Orlando, Florida, wrote and shared with us.

“We took 21 students over to SuperStart in Orlando last year and had a great time.  In addition to what the students experienced at the event we had a few things happen afterwards that were really a blessing.  We had two fifth grade girls that were inspired to try and raise enough money to buy a water filter that was talked about at SuperStart.  They had a yard sale and raised the $75 needed to pay for the water filter!

As a group, we also had a food drive for a local mission that provides families with food and supplies.  One of our kids that attended SuperStart talked to his student council at school and they agreed to help collect food.

We truly had an inspired group of students that came back from SuperStart.  We are continuing to try and find service projects that the students can do.  They really have a heart to help others.  Thank you  for all that you and your staff does.  SuperStart has been a great event for our students to see that they can do good for God’s kingdom.

What a great reminder that you’re never too young or too old to do “good works” for God

So a few weeks ago I posted a video about a Plasma Screen TV lift that Matt had built in the Garage for our new video game stations. I just wanted to take a second to update you on the progress of the game stations due to the imagination, hard work, and creativty that overflows from Matt. Just amazing the gifts that God has equipped him with! This is a regular  8′x4′ sheet of plywood. In the CIY garage though it represents endless possibilities…

This is an 8′X4′ piece of plywood that has been transformed into the skeleton of SuperStart!’s new game stations! On a side note, there are 14 rivets per handle on this case for a total of 56 rivets just for the handles!

This is an 8′X4′ piece of plywood that is now the finished version of the outside of our new Video Game cases (minus the wheels). Amazing what can be done in a week with a simple sheet of plywood.

Check back next week for the final update on our new game stations once we have installed the TV’s and Wiis!!!

Here is a video from our first week out in St. Louis this year at First Christian Florissant. It was a rocking weekend! Thanks to everyone who came out to be a part of it.

What you will find below are some comments of things that people have said to us about SuperStart! this year. These comments were made by people in all different areas of ministry in their churches and by individuals who had been to SuperStart! before or were attending for the first time. Take a moment to see what people are saying about this year’s program!

“This was by far the largest group I’ve ever been able to bring to Super Start and it’s in large part to word of mouth of the kids who have gone in the last three years.  It is something the kids really look forward to each year.  And, I think the adults have just as much fun!” - Lori Putnam Children’s Ministry Director

“THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for this amazing resource!  SuperStart’s given me so many ideas about how to energize my own preteen ministry!” - Moselle Campbell Youth Minister’s Wife – “Unofficial” Preteen Minsister

“Thanks for putting on a great conference.  My kids loved it, even the 4/5/6 boys.  They really participated in the lesson and in worship.  I am looking forward to next years conference.”- Theresa Wolf Children’s Pastor

“Thank you for the opportunity to enjoy 24 hours with our preteens without having to exhaust myself concerning programming and events. I greatly enjoy the opportunity to connect with the kids in smaller groups, an opportunity I don’t often get since I’m usually the one running the show”.- Rachel Preteen coordinator

“Super Start for our preteens was like their very first rock concert! Worship and the stories were very relevant. We look forward to bringing our kids next year. We know the preteens that attended will be our best promoters for 2010!”- Terri Miller Children’s ministry director

“Thank you so much for all you do for pre-teens! This is such a difficult and awkward age. They aren’t little kids anymore, and they aren’t teens yet. They often feel left out. SuperStart is an awesome ministry that bridges that gap! We are a mega church and use SuperStart as a model for our childrens ministry programming!” - Kristi Mangold Administrative Assistant

“We love SuperStart and highly recommend it to all preteens!”- Loretta Montgomery Children’s Minister

“This was our fist time going to Super Start.  It was great!  I will continue taking our preteens to this event in the future.”- Shannon Hatfield Children’s Mininster

“This is a program that in invaluable to the church.  I appreciate that you work so hard to target an age group that needs Christ love so much!  I am so grateful for the work that you do and the energy and thought you put into it.” - Cari Gaddie Children’s Ministry Director

“I’m still loving that my students are learning before they realize they’re being taught! You guys do such a good job teaching our students…and it’s always a WON’T MISS for us!!”- Brock Rohrer Youth Minister

“The biblical message was EXTREMELY applicable to what pre-teens are thinking and feeling.” - Melissa Drummond Children’s Minister

“The teaching through out the program, never felt like teaching.  Students were learning while being entertained.” -Christine Sturgisw Director of Christian Education

“The worship was fantastic. Yancy engaged both the boys and girls in our group. The teaching time was also wonderful. The presentations captivated, challenged, and impacted our kids. The nature and execution of each teaching time gave them a lot to think about and work through.”- Kristi Stratton Elementary Director

“It was all great.  However I really enjoyed watching our kids connect with everything….they seem really to connect with the Active Water program.  I took 4 girls from our church when we left your conference on Saturday afternoon.  On the ride home the girls decided that they wanted to do a fund raiser just to earn money for Active water.  Thank you for sharing this with them.”- Tina Rudder youth leader

“We have had several students come home from SuperStart and want to help others.  Two students had a yard sale to raise money and another student has organized a food drive at his school.  As a group we are going to go help a ministry to feed families.  The message was very good this year!”- Steve Birchfield Youth Leader

I am constantly amazed by the caliber of people I get to work with here at SuperStart!. The skills that my team members bring to the table are just awesome! I just wanted to brag a little bit about our production manager Matt. Matt blows my mind every time he steps foot into the garage to build something. From our sets, to signs, to ideas for zone games, Matt can do it!

We have been looking at building some new video game stations (which will be awesome) so Matt went out into the garage to invision, design, and create. Here is a video of a small mock up design for a lift that our TV’s will sit on. Where he comes up with this stuff I will never know. I am just thankful that Matt uses his God given talents to create such cool elements like these that help make the ministry of SuperStart! so awesome!!!

<>Aaron<>

Here is a story that a children’s minister sent us after coming to SuperStart! in Louisville. Really cool story of preteens doing Good Works already!

Hi there, My name is Jennifer Choate and I am the children’s pastor at River City Worship Center in Louisville, Ky. We recently attended Super Start at Northside Christian in New Albany Indiana. I am writing  because I wanted to share our groups good work experience.

Our kids had lots of great ideas in our small group break-out and many of those we hope to see come to pass however as their group leader I was hoping that we could do something NOW so one of the ideas came at the restaurant we were eating lunch at. The kids thought it would be a great idea to write Thank you notes to our waitress and leave them along with our tip. I had a note pad in my purse and passed a sheet out to each child and each adult chaperone, we preceded to write encouraging things to our waitress. One of the things I was surprised by was that the kids actually took the time to look at her name tag and many of the notes were addressed to our server by name, her name was Gail. One of our kids even decided to draw a picture of what they had been taught the night before, the picture of the cross and how Jesus makes a bridge for us to reach God. It was great!

As we prepared to leave the kids were more than enthusiastic about giving Gail her notes. She was very gracious in receiving them and praised God for such a blessing to her day. It was such a “good work”, our kids figured out that they can always be thinking of how to build someone else up and how to be an encourager! I was so very proud of their efforts and their complete sincerity. Thanks Super Start for guiding us in the way of good works.

In His Service,

Jennifer Choate

This week we got our new inflatable! One of the biggest things I learned last year it was that preteens LOVE inflatables. We spend a lot of time looking at different inflatables to find that perfect one that will fit the tour well that we feel the students will have a blast on. Despite how out of breath I can get from lugging this 350 pound monster around each week it is totally worth it when you see how much fun the students are having. Check out this short video and see this amazing inflatable that God provided to our program this year!

Our newest game for the SuperStart! Zone came in today! It is called The Eliminator!!! One of the true joys of this job is trying to think up really cool games that the students and adults will enjoy playing together. This idea came about when I visited a local church’s preteen group on a Wednesday night. We took the idea pondered over it for a while, and then added a little SuperStart! flare to bring to life The Eliminator! Here is a video of some of the CIY staff members testing out the game. Make sure you come to SuperStart! this year so you can experience the thrill and excitement of The Eliminator with your students!!!

Hey SuperStart! fans, we are really pumped to introduce you to Brent, our new production intern! As SuperStart! has continued to grow over the last few years so has our need for additional help on the road. Last year in both Cincinnati and Indianapolis Brent volunteered his time to come help with setup, tear down, and production during the weekend. It was evident that Brent had a huge heart to serve and loved SuperStart!.  Discussions began about a possible internship and alas here he is in Joplin building, painting, designing, and helping us get ready to get this show on the road.

Brent comes to us from Dallas TX originally. He just completed his degree in May in Christian Ministries and Broadcast Communications from Anderson University in Anderson IN. Brent brings to the table a vast knowledge of lighting and staging experience from his time spent working in Reardon Auditorium at AU and with Madison Park Church of God in Anderson. Brent is hoping to find a job as tech director of a church after completing this year’s tour. Please feel free to encourage Brent and lift him up in prayer during  this internship that he has faithfully and prayerfully committed to.