For 9 years John and I have served in AWANA. It is just a ministry we really believe in. But as the years have unfolded we have seen a greater need to serve the kids who live in our town.
They are everywhere and our van can only bring 2 extra kids to club each Wednesday. So we presented the idea to a local church here in Evansville to start a club under our direction.
That was in June. By August we got the "yes" and things started to work in rapid fashion.
In September, we left our most loved church in Madison to begin our work here in Evansville. In 3 weeks time we had 17 volunteers who needed to be trained, equipped, and encouraged to be ready for our launch date of October 13. God is so good - all the time.
It was a full time job for about 3 weeks, but on our first night of club we had a whopping 44 kids. So very many of them are boys! I frequently see a picture of a wheat field and a sickle in my hand when I pray about our club. What a fantastic response from the clubbers and the volunteers and the church leadership. Clearly it is of the Lord. I wouldn't want to be doing anything else.
You should see the smiles on those kid's faces last week when they earned their first awards for memorizing their verses. It was a moment that I won't forget.
I am so thrilled to see so many boys and girls who will be trained to Know, Love and Serve Christ right here in Evansville. The desire of my heart is that as David, Caleb and Nathan grow up in the Lord that they will have a peer group who will stand firm with them and choose right. Some of whom came to the saving knowledge of Christ in AWANA. I know that God's word does not come back void and so we will be busy planting those seeds in our kids and any other kid who we can reach with the gospel of Christ, and then train them to serve Him. Let me challenge you to join us. What else is worthy of your time?
They are everywhere and our van can only bring 2 extra kids to club each Wednesday. So we presented the idea to a local church here in Evansville to start a club under our direction.
That was in June. By August we got the "yes" and things started to work in rapid fashion.
In September, we left our most loved church in Madison to begin our work here in Evansville. In 3 weeks time we had 17 volunteers who needed to be trained, equipped, and encouraged to be ready for our launch date of October 13. God is so good - all the time.
It was a full time job for about 3 weeks, but on our first night of club we had a whopping 44 kids. So very many of them are boys! I frequently see a picture of a wheat field and a sickle in my hand when I pray about our club. What a fantastic response from the clubbers and the volunteers and the church leadership. Clearly it is of the Lord. I wouldn't want to be doing anything else.
You should see the smiles on those kid's faces last week when they earned their first awards for memorizing their verses. It was a moment that I won't forget.
I am so thrilled to see so many boys and girls who will be trained to Know, Love and Serve Christ right here in Evansville. The desire of my heart is that as David, Caleb and Nathan grow up in the Lord that they will have a peer group who will stand firm with them and choose right. Some of whom came to the saving knowledge of Christ in AWANA. I know that God's word does not come back void and so we will be busy planting those seeds in our kids and any other kid who we can reach with the gospel of Christ, and then train them to serve Him. Let me challenge you to join us. What else is worthy of your time?
