Camille Timbs, Bethany Meggard and Minister Charles Cooper are pictured in front of artwork at the school. (Democrat Photo/Ruth Ann Estes)

Children are different today. Growing up with computers, video games and videos, they are children of technology. You can't teach them the way you taught their parents.

Members of the First United Methodist Church of Trumann realized that and have spent the last two years assembling an innovative new Sunday School program for pre-school through upper elementary students at the church.

Camille Timbs, a member of the church and one of the teachers for the new program, knows first hand how different kids are today. She is a third grade teacher at Nettleton Schools.

"We realized that we needed to teach these children Bible stories differently than the way we were taught as children," she said. "When I was a child, we sat around a table and listened to our teachers tell us Bible stories each Sunday. Children today need a different method."

The church looked at methods being used by other Methodist Churches in Northeast Arkansas and liked what they saw. They decided to begin their own Sunday School Rotation program at the local church.

"This program is used by lots of Methodist churches," Timbs said. "It is a very non-traditional program."

The program teaches one Bible story over a six week period.

"And at the end of those six weeks, the kids know the story and remember what they've been taught," Timbs said.

Church members have spent many man hours turning the classrooms in the upstairs of their building into a Garden of Eden with artwork and decoration, she said.

"The kids love it," Timbs said.

Church members have painted stairways and walls in the Garden of Eden theme

which includes trees, flowers, animals and a waterfall.

"We teach one Bible story for six weeks," Timbs said. "The first lesson is in our story telling tent where the kids sit on cushions and hear the story from their teacher." Subsequent lessons are taught in the music room and the art room in weeks two and three. Science and cooking lessons are offered in weeks four and five. Kids also play games each week.

The final week of study culminates in the theatre room where kids watch videos and munch on popcorn. Videos are presented on a big-screen television.

Timbs said that the children learn the story by heart by the end of the presentation.

"They know the story very well," Timbs said.

Once a month, the children take a field trip designed to reinforce principles they've learned in Sunday School.

They recently took a trip to Wal-Mart to purchase items to be included in boxes being mailed to soldiers in Iraq by the youth group at the church.

"The children brought $5 of their own money to purchase items for soldiers," Timbs said.

Several teachers rotate teaching duties in the new program.

Members of the church have been preparing the new program for almost two years. "There is a lot of commitment from people in this church," Timbs said. "We are building this program and adding new things."

Many members of the church have been active in planning the new program and helping to decorate and renovate classrooms, Timbs said.

Final renovations are now being made to the theater room classroom, Timbs said. The room improvements are being financed by funds given to the church by the daughters of the late Louis and Wanda Byersdorf, who were long time members of the church.

"When the room is complete, we will have a plague honoring the Byersdorf's on the door," Timbs said. "This memorial from their daughter's has allowed us to turn one classroom into a small theater complete with a TV and theater seating."

On Wednesday nights, the Sunday School lessons are reinforced by Kids of the Kingdom activities held from 6-7 p.m. For further information on the program, contact Charles Cooper at 483-5441.