What happens when you take something kids already love—church, worship, games, and time with their friends—and turn up the joy?

That’s the heart behind Joy Jam, a special experience in Refinery Kids designed to add a little extra fun, energy, and excitement to the regular weekly experience. We sat down with Kids Pastor Emily Coyle to talk about where Joy Jam came from, what she’s seen happen through it, and how the heart behind it goes far beyond glow sticks and pom-poms.

Lanni Willson, Associate Pastor: So, Emily, let’s start with the basics. What is Joy Jam?

Emily Coyle, Kids Pastor: Joy Jam is a day of EXTRA in our Refinery Kids classrooms. It’s extra worship, bigger and higher-energy songs, fun activities, and things like glow sticks or pom-poms in our preschool classrooms. It’s not that we don’t already have fun in Kids—we absolutely do! Our motto is, “Let’s make this fun for the kids. Let’s teach them about Jesus while they’re having fun.”

Joy Jam is just a day of extra fun. It’s Jesus at the next level, so to speak. We’re adding a little bit more to the day to make it something special for the kids.

Lanni: Where did the idea for Joy Jam come from?

Emily: Honestly, it started with the idea of wanting to have a “Sunday Fun Day” a couple of times a year and do something a little special. But now that we have Thursday services, we couldn’t really call it Sunday Fun Day!

So we had to come up with something else. And Joy Jam came from the idea that joy is something we need to practice and something we need to teach our kids about.

So let’s have a day jam-packed with joy!

Lanni: How have you personally been impacted by what God has done through Joy Jam?

Emily: It’s been a little bit of a rejuvenation. It’s brought even more fun and joy into the Kids area.

Our volunteers are excited to serve on Joy Jam days. Our student volunteers especially will come back and serve again—even if they just served—because they know there’s going to be something a little extra happening.

And the kids are excited about it too. After our last Glow Joy Jam, we already had kids asking when we could do it again because they had such a fun experience.

Lanni: How many Joy Jams have you done so far?

Emily: We’ve done three, not including our big summer Joy Jam experience, which was Camp Joy Jam.

We had a Valentine’s Joy Jam, an Easter Joy Jam, and then a Glow Joy Jam for back-to-school. In October, we’re going to do a game themed Joy Jam that will go along with the themes already happening in our classrooms that month. So it’ll be extra games and extra fun while still reinforcing what they’re learning.

Then we’ll do another Joy Jam at Christmas.

From there, we’ll just sprinkle them in whenever it makes sense with our curriculum—when we see an opportunity to bring a little more joy into the rooms and create a fun, memorable experience for the kids.

And we’ll have our big Camp Joy Jam again next summer. Next year’s theme is going to be All In with Dude Perfect, which is going to be pretty exciting!

Lanni: Speaking of summer, you made a pretty big change to your summer programming this year and turned VBS into Camp Joy Jam. Tell me about that.

Emily: We had been using the same company for our VBS curriculum for about ten years, and this year we switched to the same company that creates our weekend Kids curriculum.

That brought a new level of excitement and intentionality to our summer programming. The theme we used for Camp Joy Jam continued throughout the summer in our classrooms, so the kids had this consistent experience throughout the whole summer.

It tied camp into everything else and even connected the weekend experience with what they were learning at camp.

It was really neat to see the kids diving deeper into what it means to be part of God’s kingdom.

Lanni: One of the things we’ve talked about a lot is the idea of putting joy on the calendar. What would you say to parents about intentionally making room for joy?

Emily: I think joy is kind of like a muscle. In order to get stronger and see more joy, you have to practice it.

The more you experience joy, the more you intentionally put joy on your calendar, the more you point it out and have fun with your kids, the more they’re going to get used to seeing joy around them.

And hopefully, they start seeing Jesus in that joy.

They see the excitement of faith. They see the excitement of having a relationship with God. That’s really where the idea of Joy Jam came from for us: let’s keep joy in there and keep it strong.

Lanni: Do you think kids are taking that joy home with them? Are they taking that “extra” home and sharing it with their parents?

Emily: I hope so!

One thing we’re being intentional about is using worship songs in our classrooms that kids can also hear on Christian radio and at home. They’re songs their parents can find on Spotify, Apple Music, or whatever streaming service they use.

I want kids to understand that faith happens in more places than just our classrooms.

Worship happens in the car on the way to school. Worship happens when we’re spending time with our family. Worship happens when we’re sharing joy together.

I’m hoping that the excitement they experience here transfers home and helps plant that same excitement about Jesus in their everyday lives.

Lanni: Let’s talk about volunteers for a minute. One of the things we’re always looking for is more people to get involved in Refinery Kids. What would you say to someone who might be apprehensive about serving with kids or who doesn’t think they’re qualified?

Emily: You don’t have to be a teacher to serve in Kids.

For our classrooms that have curriculum, everything is already planned for our volunteers. When they show up on Thursday or Sunday, they already have a lesson plan that guides them through everything.

It tells you the key point, the Bible story, the verse, the activities, how to lead the activities, how to ask questions, and how to help the kids dive deeper into what they’re learning about Jesus.

You don’t have to know how to teach a lesson. You don’t have to know exactly how to work with kids. You don’t even have to have all the answers.

We’re going to train you. We’re going to provide the materials and everything you need for the classroom.

Really, what we need you to bring is a willingness to have fun with the kids, share Jesus’ love with them, help keep them safe, and build relationships with them.

That’s the most important part.

Lanni: I love that because I remember when I was a brand-new Christian, I started serving in a kids’ class. I didn’t grow up in church. I didn’t know the Bible stories. I didn’t know all the answers.

But teaching those kids actually became one of the ways I learned some of those foundational things about God and the Bible myself.

So I think there’s something really powerful about knowing you don’t have to have it all figured out before you serve.

Emily: Absolutely. We have volunteers who are newer in their faith journey, and they’re learning right alongside the kids.

And honestly, our kids ask some amazing questions.

We had an upper-elementary class recently where the kids were asking questions like, “How can Jesus be everywhere?” and trying to understand how Jesus died, came back to life, and what that means.

Those are incredible questions!

We don’t expect our volunteers to have every answer to every question a child might ask. We tell them it’s okay to say, “I don’t know, but let’s look in the Bible together and find out.”

Or, “Let’s talk to Pastor Emily about that.” You don’t have to be a Bible scholar to serve in Kids. You just have to love God and want to learn alongside these kids.

Our curriculum provides age-appropriate, developmentally appropriate, theologically grounded Bible lessons, and our leaders come alongside that to help the kids dive deeper through questions, games, activities, and conversations.

So every week, we’re learning alongside our kids.

Lanni: And I think that really connects to one of our core values— dropping the mask and being authentic. If someone asks you a question and you don’t know the answer, there’s actually something really powerful about being willing to say, “I don’t know. Let’s figure it out together.”

Emily: Exactly. We want our volunteers to feel like they can be authentic too.

Lanni: Let’s talk about the numbers for a minute. How many people does it actually take to make Refinery Kids happen across our five services?

Emily: We have five service hours each weekend—Thursday night and four services on Sunday.

We need people serving in our infants, ones and twos, preschool, elementary, preteen, and our service lead and greeting teams. At a minimum, we need about 12 people per service hour.

That means we need at least 60 people across the weekend, and depending on how many kids we have in our rooms, we probably need closer to 70.

Most of our volunteers serve for one service hour because we really believe in the importance of serving one and attending one. Many serve every other week, so to fill an entire month, we need around 140 adults.

And then we have our amazing student volunteers who help fill in and serve alongside our adults.

Lanni: Speaking of students, one of the things I love about Refinery Kids is seeing students who grew up in Kids now serving in Kids. How have you seen that impact the culture of our next generation?

Emily: Our student volunteers are amazing!

They come in eager to serve. They’re excited to help kids have fun and learn about Jesus in the same way they did when they were going through Kids themselves.

Sometimes they’re simply an extra set of hands—playing with kids, helping them move from one activity to the next, being a buddy, or helping with a small group.

But other times, you see how much they’ve grown. They’re leading activities. They’re practicing leadership skills. They’re learning what it looks like to disciple the next generation.

They’re leading prayer. They’re standing up and worshiping. They’re teaching our kids what authentic worship looks like.

It’s really cool to watch.

We have students who started serving in junior high or high school who are now adults and have continued to grow in their leadership. It’s amazing to watch kids grow and become stronger in sharing their faith with others.

In fact our Kids Admin, Hannah, was part of our kids program, then volunteered as a teen and now she's on staff.

Lanni: So what’s next for Refinery Kids?

Emily: We have a Family App coming soon!

It’s going to give parents a way to see what their kids are learning in our Thursday and Sunday services. They’ll be able to watch the Bible stories at home, access conversation questions to help them dive deeper into what their kids learned, find the memory verse, and even access devotionals.

And it will cover the whole family—from our littlest kids all the way through high school. We’re just getting the last few details taken care of, but it’s going to be a really great resource for families.

Lanni: Emily, thanks for taking the time to talk with me!

Emily: Thank you!