We had a great day in Hero Factory on Sunday in both Richmond and Barnard Castle. We continued on with our Be the Hero theme and we are already hearing stories of kids starting to live the life of a hero.

On Sunday we talked about how every superhero has a superpower. If that is strength, being able to create force fields, being faster than the speed of light or even flying we talked about how with these superpowers the heroes had the power to change situations when they used them.

As Christians and as Hero Factory we have the power to change a situation and one way we can do that is through prayer. We shared lots of examples of prayers that have been prayed and answered, as we shared these the kids faith started to rise as they knew that with God in their life they can come to him and pray for a situation to change.

We spent some time praying for opportunities to change the world, through the goat we are buying and the conversations we have with people.

One child who recently did a project at school on church invited his teacher to church, why, because they are a hero and they have the power to change a situation. We have also seen other kids inviting their friends and the kids that cause trouble to come to kids club on a Tuesday, why, because as Hero Factory we have the power to change a situation and we need to be the hero.

This week many of our kids are doing test and SATS and they are going into those exams knowing that they are heroes and that with God they can do all things.

I love Hero Factory and the faith, boldness and courage they have to go into a situation and to change it.

Parents spend some time encouraging your kids to BE THE HERO this week in their life.

WOW, how good was Sunday.

We had an incredible day across both services, seeing over 50 kids and leading 15 of them to Christ. Sunday was such a significant day for Influence Church and Hero Factory. We’re beyond excited about going to two locations.

This weekend we started our new theme which is ‘Be the Hero.’ My heart for all the kids who come to Hero Factory is that they know and live the life of a Hero. With God in their life they have the power to change a situation; at home, school or even at the park.

One of our favourite bible verses in Hero Factory is Judges 6 v 12. In this verse the angel of the Lord appears to Gideon and says ‘You are a mighty Hero.’ We want every child in Hero Factory to know that they are a mighty Hero and with God’s power, they can do all things.

I really want to encourage you to spend some time looking through the Connect Group sheets the children came home with and talk to them more about how they are called to be Heroes and to live for God in their life.

Over this theme, we will be raising money to buy a goat. We want your children to know that they can change situations by giving but also by praying. To buy one goat for a family we need to raise £15. Every week we take an offering in Hero Factory and this month the money will be going towards that. Check out this link for more information about how a Goat can change a family’s life.

We love all your children so much and want to say thank you so much for entrusting them into our care every week.

Hopefully see you all on Sunday either in Richmond or in Barnard Castle.

Every Hero Factory we preach from the bible and teach your kids memory verses. We also encourage your kids to bring their bibles to church every Sunday. Recently we’ve done a series in Hero Factory on the bible where we shared with your child that reading the bible and storing Gods word up in your heart is a solid foundation that we need to build our life on.

When we search the internet and look for children’s bibles we are met with pages and pages of bibles and it can seem quite overwhelming and the pressure can hit to make sure that you have the right bible suitable for your child. So we are here to help. Below are links to the best bibles for toddlers, 4 – 6 year olds and 7 – 11 year olds, that we think are around. We want to help you to be one bible ahead all the time.

These bibles are all available online but they will also be available to buy from the Info Point at one of our Sunday Main Events very soon!

Make sure you keep reading as we want to give you a opportunity to win a bible for your child!

Toddlers:
Beginners Bibles for Toddlers

4 – 6 Bible:
My First Hands on Bible

7 – 11 Bible:
Hands on Bible

If your child is getting ready to head to Elevate after the summer then the best bible for them is a Youth Bible. We also have some available at the Info Point.

Bible Giveaway
So like we said, we want to give you and your child an opportunity to win a FREE bible. We are going to be giving a way 1 bible from each age range. All you need to do is download the attached worksheet, complete it and hand it back to me by Sunday 13th May. You can always pick up a work sheet from me or the signing in desk at our Sunday Main Events.

Hero Factory yesterday was AWESOME. We had a huge morning in numbers and well the room was rammed, but it was such a great atmosphere.

We had an incredible team yesterday that put together a great programme, including fried bananas for an offering talk, free sweets for the prayer time and a story about a young girl who wanted a bible in welsh. Yesterday was a great morning for us as a team and the kids.

We carried on in our theme which is Sun Stand Still. We looked at how when we pray, we should pray and never stop. We challenged the children to not just pray to God once but to praying continually about the same thing until something happens. I have loved this series so much as we are challenging and encouraging our kids in their prayer life. My pray is that this is something that carries on at home and through out the week.

We also showed some pictures from our Bunny Challenge. We had so many pictures sent in. Including a bunny that made it to Haiti. So check out the pictures and we will announce the winner next week in Hero Factory.

This weeks Sum Up is written by Kayleigh who is a member of our Kids Church core team.

We had SO MUCH FUN in Hero Factory on Sunday the kids were so responsive and we all managed to have a good laugh (mainly at me not doing very well in the wheel barrow race!) I love seeing the kids having a great time and seeing them enjoy themselves on a Sunday morning it just fills me with this fire to do it again and again because it shows me that we must be doing something right.
We started our new series on Joshua and spoke about his ‘Sun Stand Still’ prayer. We encouraged the kids to be AUDACIOUS with their prayers, being specific with God and showing their authority in Him to be able to do anything with His power. We asked them to think of some giants in their lives that they need to start praying audaciously for, a lot of things that came up with were illnesses of family members and problems at school, as a team in Hero Factory the leaders all make an effort to include these kind of prayer requests in our own time with God. If we can encourage them to pray audaciously and build their faith they will grow so much in Jesus.
The kids got pretty excited by the fact that they had the power to do anything with the power of God and they realised some of the amazing things He has done for them, that they had barely even realised was Him! There was a lot of talk of Healings they had received and for their family also lots of talk of new friends when they needed them.
It makes me SO happy to see these kids getting excited for God and I really hope over the next few weeks together we can encourage their prayer lives to be bold, daring, cheeky, over-the-top, faith-filled and AUDACIOUS! So we encourage you to spend some time praying with your children this week.

Our Kids Church has an incredible core team made up of 6 people. These people are heroes and literally serve their socks off most weeks.

Kayleigh is the youngest member of the core team but serves faithfully and even gives one day a week to church to help grown and build Hero Factory.

This is what she has to say.

As soon as I started coming to church, Hero Factory fascinated me. They were so loud and so crazy ALL the time! Seeing them there in the corner of church, so excited to be there really made me think about what it must be like growing up in a God fuelled environment, and I wish so much i could’ve had that opportunity! I wanted to be a part of that almost instantly, I wanted to know that I was one of the people filling their lives with that excitement and happiness and filling them with His power. I love God and to be able to share that with so many excited children is one of the best things I’ve ever done and ever will do. I hope to spend the rest of my life fuelling up kids ready to go out and love, laugh and LIVE for God!

Kayleigh is incredible and if you have not met her go and say hi! She is an incredible woman of God and we love her so much!

I can’t believe Easter is over already. The last two weeks in Hero Factory we have been talking about The Easter Story and eating A LOT of chocolate. We split the Easter Story into two weeks where we looked at ‘The Exchange’ and ‘Same Power.’

We have had an incredible two weeks as we have digged deeper into Gods word and challenged the children in lots of ways. The first week in our Exchange week 10 children responded and asked Jesus into their life, which is AMAZING. Then on Easter Sunday we had 36 kids in Hero Factory which caused a few space issues and volume control but nothing we could not handle.

It was great to see Hero Factory so packed out as we talked to the children about how the ‘Same Power that raised Christ from the grave lives in us.’ The children were all challenged to realise that with God in their life they have the ultimate super power and that the power they have in them goes with them everywhere.

The last couple of weeks in Hero Factory we have seen children praying out loud, praying for each other, leading us in Offering talks, sharing what God is doing in their life and we have just seem them flourish as they have been planted in the house of God.

Easter Sunday was an amazing Sunday to be in church with a great main event followed by a massive Easter egg hunt and picnic, if you weren’t there then make sure you check Pastor Gale’s message on our Podcasts.

Don’t forget Friday is the last day for our Bunny Challenge. So get taking those pictures and make sure you email them in.

Enjoy the rest of your Easter holidays.

Parents don’t forget we have set you and your child a challenge. Over the Easter holidays what you need to do is take a picture with the bunny in the craziest place you can think of. Maybe you are going on holiday over Easter; you could have your picture taken with him then. Maybe you are out for ice cream, take a picture with him.

Once you have a picture, then email it to bunny@influencechurch.co.uk All photos need to be in by Friday 13th April.

Your pictures will then be put into a draw and the best will win some Easter treats.

If you have not got a bunny then you can download it here.

Yesterday we ended our ‘Bible’ theme by talking about the story of Ruth and Naomi. We challenged the children to remember that we need to be loyal to our friends and to our family all the time and God will reward and bless us for that.

We have seen lots of new faces over the last few weeks and it has been incredible to see the children getting our culture and connecting with the new kids, even if their methods are a bit random. One boy told a new girl that he had a 6 pack and another told the same girl not to fancy her as he already has a girlfriend. What?!?!? She did find the funny side of it.

Each week we have a prayer time in Hero Factory, we want the children to know the power of prayer in their life and that they can pray to God ANYTIME, ANYWHERE and about ANYTHING. Paige this week talked to the children about how we can come to God and ask him our questions. This led to so many conversations, including children asking why bad stuff happens. I love that every week these kids are asking more and more questions and taking next steps on their journey with God.

Next week we start a two week series on Easter but along with this theme we are setting the children and you as a family a challenge.

Next Sunday. Each child will be given a picture of a Bunny. The challenge is to take a picture with the bunny in the randomest place; maybe you are on holiday or out for a walk. Take a picture and email it to bunny@influencechurch.co.uk the best will win a prize also the pictures will be shown on this blog in the next coming weeks.

Parents don’t forget this Tuesday is the last of our Kids Club before Easter. Make sure your child is there.

The summer is fast approaching and we have an incredible opportunity for your child to be involved in a memory making, life changing week!

On the morning of Tuesday July 31st, Hero Factory, along with Planet Kids from Xcel Church in Newton Aycliffe, will be heading to Whitby for 4 days and 3 nights for The Big British Summer Camp. We will be returning home on the evening of Friday August 3rd.

The Big British Summer Camp is for children aged 7-12 yrs and it will be a great chance for your child get away and make new friends! The Summer Camp will include water fights, crazy games, gunge, mess, a disco, talent show and a trip to the beach to enjoy some fish and chips!

This is going to be an INCREDIBLE week for your child, but it’s also a week where you can sit back, relax and know that your child is in the best care possible, making memories that will last a lifetime!

For more information you can pick up a Registration pack from Colleen at Hero Factory on a Sunday morning or Tuesday evening.