By Shaun Ho

Since 2020, our church has directed families to participate in Kare Youth League, a Christian sports league for children PreK - 6th grade. Hear from one of our parents share testimony of his family's experience being in Kare Youth League.

Just before the pandemic, our kids were starting to get involved in sports, even taking semi-private lessons for basketball.  Like with everything else, this venture was cut short by the closures.  As things opened up again in 2021, we wanted to find an inexpensive avenue (like some city community centers have) to have them re-engage in team sports, but still receive a decent level of coaching.  We weren’t looking for anything as advanced as club/travel teams (we were not that intense about it) and we wanted something that we could reasonably juggle our schedule around.  Pastor Victor invited us to check out KARE Youth League (KYL) in Irwindale (they have other branches in Covina and Upland), so we signed our son up for soccer in the summer of 2021.

Our son really loved playing at KARE and we were really impressed by the quality of the facilities as well as the warmth of the community.  As the summer closed out, we were thankful that the next sport offered for the girls was volleyball.  Our daughter was willing to try it because of some spontaneous volleyball play at church and because she has always known that I have played and coached the sport.  It was during this fall season that we really got to know more of the parents as well as the staff, and this set off a new era in our family’s lives.

Our entire family has found a great community at KYL and I became a participant in an unofficial “Dad’s Club” while watching our kids practice and play games.  Our daughter and our son really enjoy playing with their teammates and I love how the environment fosters a general level of respect and warmth even in the parent community.  Having coached and known many coaches, I have felt and heard from most of them how difficult the parents can be sometimes, but I have not witnessed much of that at KYL.  In fact, it is not unusual for a parent to say encouraging things to kids from the other team, win or lose.  I believe much of the reason for this is set by the tone of the coaches.  They will call out, give directives, and even gently discipline the kids, but never in anger.  Even during a game when they feel a referee made an error, they will point it out without anger and do not continue to make an issue of it.  They do not merely preach good sportsmanship. They exemplify it.

But the coaches do not just focus on the sport with our kids; they have weekly devotionals with them and work on character building.  I have witnessed on several occasions a coach gently pull a kid aside, if the child was not exhibiting care and/or respect, and compassionately speak to them about the issue without making the child feel bad.  Even the assistant coaches are great.  They are youth that have gone through leadership training in the Rio Hondo Prep program and they all are great leaders and role models for our kids.  Essentially, I believe that all the staff demonstrate a great meld of healthy competition in sports combined with the heart of Jesus.  Even in Paul’s exhortations, he doesn’t call us to shy away from competition, only to compete in what matters.

“24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.”  -  I Cor. 9:24, 25

Although the kids aren’t exactly competing for the crown that will last forever at KYL, they are shown the heart of healthy competition so they know what it looks like.  Additionally, the kids are given good exposure to a variety of sports so they have the chance to discover what they are most passionate about.

In the midst of this family atmosphere that we have come to love, we discovered that the Rio Hondo Prep School (RHP), which this program is connected with, could also be a viable option for our own kids.  With my wife and I both being public school teachers, we never seriously thought that we would want to or could afford to send our kids to private school.  Well, the Lord has opened up the doors in a variety of ways and we discovered that, compared to most private schools, RHP is actually quite affordable.  We are truly excited that we have found not only a sports program that will also guide the characters of our kids towards Jesus, but a school environment that will continue to partner with us in such character-building until they become young adults.  We are so thankful for the doors the Lord has opened up in our lives and are excited as we venture into this new chapter in our lives.

For more information about KYL or RHP, feel free to contact Pastor Victor or visit www.kyl.org and www.rhprep.org

by Pastor Victor Chen

Just about a year ago, I started a blog series, “What are my Children Supposed to Do During Sunday Service?” Children had grown accustomed to school, Sunday school and church on the screen. As a result, focus and attention became challenges as children began returning to services in-person.

Early on, we tried having pastors give a “keyword” for children to track in the message and keep them engaged. This served as a “teaser” for the sermon in hopes of building anticipation. (Remember how children tracked how many times the “keyword” was mentioned?)

We started developing our own “Children’s Bulletins” to match with the specific sermon that Sunday, including the passage, title and series theme. Activities like mazes, word searches and coloring sheets were provided to help children engage with the passage.

We also developed a “Church Notebook” with blank sermon notes for our older children 3rd-6th grade to note the key points of the sermon and the key idea or question.

All of that has led to the launch of a “Children’s Worship Service” every 4th Sunday of the month beginning in January for children 0-6th grade.

But I like having the children join us for worship service.

And they will, for the beginning portion of the service. Following the opening two songs and the scripture reading, children will be excused to the back of the sanctuary, where they will be escorted to the MPR for the “Children’s Worship Service”.

Why is the service for older children? They can stay quiet and sit still in service.

The aim of the “Children’s Worship Service” is not to keep our children quiet and sit still in service. The aim of the service and the aim of children in any worship service, is to get them to listen. We see in the Bible that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). We have a great opportunity to train our older children to listen attentively, take notes and engage with the message and God’s Word as it relates to their life.

How do you expect to keep a toddler and a 6th grader engaged from the same message?

My message will have the same title, be from the same passage, have the same keyword and the same key points as the big Lord’s Day service. My expectation for the young children is for them to be able to identify the keyword. The older the children, the more they will be expected to track with the message. Following my message, there will be age-specific breakout groups with age-specific activities ranging from coloring sheets to small group discussion to help the children engage with the message from God’s Word in their particular context.

It’s only once a month? I need it every week!

Because a service like this requires a lot of volunteers, we will begin offering the service once a month. As more volunteers commit to helping, we can expand to twice a month, 3x a month to eventually every week. The hope is that we would have enough volunteers to form a rotation where everybody volunteers once a month.

For more information about our upcoming Children’s Worship Service or how you can help, please contact Pastor Victor at vchen@evergreensgv.org

by Victor Chen

This is the third part to the previous blog post, “What Are My Children Supposed to Do During Sunday Service?”

It’s pretty easy to tell whether my children are listening to me. 

They rarely listen if they are in another room (no matter how loud I bark orders).

They aren’t listening to me if their backs are to me (no matter how much they insist otherwise).

They for sure are not listening to me if they are doing something while I am talking to them (no matter the number of head nods and mumbling affirmations).

My children listen to me if they are looking at me.

That is why any call to listen is often preceded by a request —“Look at me.”

We listen most effectively with our eyes. We listen when we look up.

As a parent, Church School teacher and preacher, I can tell when people are listening. It’s as simple as looking at their faces and seeing whether they are looking right back at me.

What about taking notes? 

Sure, there are some who are able to take notes as they are listening. But to guard from wandering minds (and wandering doodles), we should look up and give the preacher our full attention. When a point or insightful thought is spoken, we can then take notes. First look, then listen and then write any appropriate notes. 

But that’s a long time to be looking up!

There will be times to look down, like when the preacher directs you to the Scripture passage and points out key verses or key words. It is important to look up during the preacher’s introduction though, because that is when he introduces the key idea, and during the preacher’s conclusion, because that is when he concludes with a key takeaway application. 

So parents, the next time the pastor is preaching, here’s a tip to help your children listen —tell them, “Look up!”

by Victor Chen

Let’s play an association game.

What is the first word that comes to mind when you see the following words?

Playground.
Toy store.
Library.
Classroom.
Church.

What words come to mind? What feelings come up? What memories are triggered? What associations are revealed?

If you couldn’t guess, all the words provided describe places from our childhood. The associations with these words come from years of repeated experience and ingrained messages, whether realized or not. 

The first two words could elicit feelings of joy and fun. These are places that encouraged play and enjoyment. 

The next two places could elicit feelings of boredom or obligation. We had to go to those places to read, study and pay attention. 

The final place is a toss-up. Though church may bring feelings of joy, that is not always common. More likely, our childhood experiences of church elicited feelings of duty and obligation, much like going to the library or to school. 

What associations do children have with church today? What associations are they making when church service comes via live stream?

These are the questions that haunt me as a Family Pastor. Frankly, these are questions that haunt me as a parent. 

Yes, we cannot always control what associations our children have with “church.” But, we can control the message they are receiving from us when it comes to “church.” 

As a parent, as a Church School teacher and as the Family Pastor, the message I want children to associate with church service is “listen.” I can’t control the hearts of children, but I can instill the call to “listen” during church service. From the children’s bulletin to the children’s messages, from the Church School points for completing sermon notes to prizes that reward listening during service, there is a constant battle to instill the association of “listening” with “church.” 

But if we don’t intentionally fight these battles, we lose our children and don’t relegate them to negative associations with “church.” We relegate them to ambivalent associations with “church.” 

Our children will learn to check out. Our children will learn to do their own thing as long as they keep quiet and don’t bother Mommy and Daddy. 

And what is the scariest word our children will associate with “church?”

Nothing.