February Updates

News From Nance

In my devotions, I’ve just finished reading Deuteronomy. In chapter 31, God instructs Moses to “write ye this song” and teach it to the children to be a witness and testimony.

Many people, especially auditory learners, remember what they sing. Can you still sing the ♫ ABC’s ♫, ♫ Happy Birthday ♫, or ♫ Jingle Bells ♫? That’s why we include songs in all our clubs and parties.

Several years ago, I worked in a big club of all 6th graders. They thought they were “too cool” to sing and do motions. But they weren’t “too cool” for musical chairs, so I played our songs over and over for the game. After the game and as they were leaving, I could hear them singing and humming the songs. They’ll stick!

Here’s a good one:

O Sing unto the LORD a new song: Sing unto the LORD, all the earth.

Psalm 96:1

Rachel’s Report

For the January children’s ministry workshop, we decided to do something a little different and invite a Christian licensed counselor to give a guest presentation. He shared helpful information about mental health, and the challenges children are facing in today’s world. Several attendees mentioned that they really liked having a guest speaker come so I’m hoping to incorporate that into the children’s ministry workshops more often.

January gave me opportunities for those important, but not urgent projects. One such project was sorting and putting away donated materials. Teachers often give us curriculum and materials that they are no longer using, and then we organize it for our “free store” and “lending library.” That way, other teachers can use the curriculum and materials. Another project was updating training materials. Our simplified Wordless Book PowerPoint presentation and accompanying student notes were originally designed many years ago, so it was time for a refreshed look, especially since we are planning to use those materials for an event in March. Closet organization was another project we had time to tackle this month – in a building that used to be four apartments, there are lots of closets! Now, the game supplies like balls and hula hoops, the prizes for treasure boxes and goodie bags, and the banners and display boards are all organized clearly so that they are easier to use.

Please Pray for:

  • The planning and preparation for our Spring Banquet

  • Wisdom on which fairs to do this year

Praise God for:

  • New children enrolling in small
    Good News Clubs

  • Opportunities to learn new things and strengthen skills

January Updates

News from Nance

Two things I enjoy about the holidays: games and traditions. Did you enjoy a lot of them during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s? Does anybody else eat black-eyed peas for New Year’s? Do you have certain games you always play?

One of the things I like best about Child Evangelism Fellowship® events is Review Game time. It gives the teachers an opportunity to review essential elements of the lesson and verse teaching one more time to see if the kids really “got it.” Properly done, the kids don’t even realize you are still teaching them. They just think they are playing a game. The kids at church try to peek in my bag to see if I brought a game.

We are happy to have had five Christmas Party Clubs, complete with review games. We had a sixth scheduled but the hostess became very ill and had to cancel. We are still praying for her recovery. The five clubs included seventy-five children and an unknown number of participating adults. The adults enjoyed the review games as much as the kids.

So, here’s a New Year’s review game for you. (I found it scribbled on scratch paper while doing some cleaning of piles over the holidays).

Can you name/sing the favorite hymn of the:

  • Dentist

  • Weatherman

  • Contractor

  • Tailor

  • Politician

  • Optometrist

Rachel’s Report

It was a good Christmas Party Club® season! Seventy-five children heard the true story of Christmas in five different party clubs this year. Two of those party clubs were at new locations (a church and a daycare center); it was wonderful to meet new people, and we look forward to working with them again soon. The parties were full of games and activities alongside the true story of Christmas – many times the adults got involved in the excitement too! At our biggest CPC™ this season, I got to talk more with a kid who had a question: “how do I know I believe in Jesus?” It was neat to see the thoughtfulness of that question and to see that God was working on his heart even in the crowded, busy room.

The holiday lulls between Christmas Party Clubs were the perfect opportunity to work on projects. Online fair training is finally completed and uploaded to the website! It’s a six-video series that communicates the important information people need to know before they serve with us in the tent at a county fair or festival. Topics are the “why” of fair and festival ministry, screening paperwork requirements, the usual flow in the fair tent, opening and closing procedures, and an overview of the Wordless Book. We have not done formal fair training for the past few years because of scheduling complications and have done informal on-the-job training instead, which works well. These videos will complement the on-the-job training and help people know what to expect before they arrive for their first shift.

Praise God for:

  • Seventy-five kids who heard the true story of Christmas

  • The fair training videos getting finished

Please Pray for:

  • The planning and preparation for our Spring Banquet

  • God to provide new Good News Club® opportunities in the spring

December Updates

News from Nance

Rachel’s Report

It’s Christmas Party Club® season! Christmas time is a great opportunity to share the story of Jesus, the true reason for the season. This year, we have six Christmas Party Clubs on the calendar, plus the Christmas Good News Blitz. The main theme this year is “Backwards Birthday Bash.” Because of Jesus’s birthday, we are offered a gift from God and that’s backwards from usual birthdays! Four of the Christmas Party Clubs are at small churches, one is at a Christian daycare center, and one is at someone’s home.

Our Teaching Children Effectively™ Level 1 (TCE1) students have finished all their classes. Now, they are working on their children’s ministry experience requirements, which means they are teaching real kids using the skills they learned during the course. We are hoping to start a spring Good News Club® at Meadowlark Apartments in Trotwood, which would be another opportunity for our students to get those requirements checked off. Once all the course requirements, including classes, homework, practicums, and experience, have been completed, our students will earn an official certificate from the Children’s Ministries Institute!

We’ve resumed Good News Club at Arrowood Elementary in Xenia for the months of November and December. It’s been a much bigger group this year – we have had 40 kids come at least once! The curriculum is based on the Wordless Book; each week expands on the truths of the specific color. On the last day of school before Christmas break, we’ll have a visiting teacher who’s going to share the story of Christmas.

Please Pray for:

  • Each Christmas Party Club and for the kids who attend

  • Wisdom for whether to do a spring Good News Club at Arrowood

Praise God for:

  • New locations for Christmas Party Clubs

  • Our large group at Arrowood

November Updates

News from Nance

My neighbor took down his Halloween decorations last weekend. They were horrible. He had a giant skeleton, some creepy monsters, gravestones and lots of skeletons carrying body bags.

This weekend, he’ll put up his Christmas decorations. What happened to Thanksgiving?

Felicia Hemans wrote in her poem, “The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers:”
”What sought they thus afar?
Bright jewels of the mine?
The wealth of seas, the spoils of war?
They sought a faith’s pure shrine!
Aye, call it holy ground,
The soil where first they trod;
They have left unstained what there they found-
Freedom to worship God.”

Don’t let the pilgrims get run over by the reindeer in your home or church or the classes you teach. In this materialistic culture, we need THANKSGIVING!

I’m thankful for so many things that pertain to CEF. I’m thankful for the curriculum that teaches Bible lessons, not just stories. I’m thankful for all the volunteers who give their time to teach the children. I’m thankful for the staff that holds it all together with paperwork, communication, training and equipping. I’m thankful for the supportive committee that steers the ministry. I’m thankful for this paid-for building that houses all of the above. And I’m thankful for the donors who give sacrificially to make it all possible. I’m thankful for YOU!

Thank you for giving to the Lord.

Rachel’s Report

One of the sessions I taught in our Teaching Children Effectively™ Level 1 course recently was called “The Importance of Reaching the Child in the Community.” This class encourages the students to be “fishers of men” instead of only being “keepers of the aquarium.” It is full of stories of how God impacted lives through Good News Clubs. Here are a few of the stories our students heard:

  • Twin sisters, Abby and Kali, trusted in Christ in a Cincinnati area Good News Club and over time, their parents came to know the Lord too. Dad, Mom, Abby, and Kali were all baptized on the same day at the church that conducted their Good News Club! (Search for “Strunk Family Testimonial” on YouTube to hear their full story).

  • In a Good News Club in our chapter a few years ago, a boy learned how to share the Wordless Book and earned a wristband with the Wordless Book colors. That week, he shared the Gospel with his friend and then brought the friend to his Good News Club teacher, asking the teacher to quickly make sure the friend understood. The friend did indeed understand, and he received Christ that day (and still made it to the bus!).

  • One mom told her daughter’s Good News Club teacher that, “my daughter is boldly telling everyone that there really is a God.”

  • Testimony from a former Good News Club student: “Thirty-three years ago at the age of ten, I was invited to a Good News Club in Sheridan, Wyoming. I lived in a non-Christian home and was not allowed to go back to club. But my one time there, in a very little house with love and cookies, I received Christ and never walked away from Him. I went on to Bible college and I have been a children’s minister or very involved for 24 years. Thank you for your ministry—it has literally set the course for my life and eternity.” (Eyrich, Teresa. Impact Magazine Winter vol.1 no.3 (2011): 5. Child Evangelism Fellowship).

Please pray for:

  • Christian teachers in public schools

  • The TCE students as they do their real-life teaching requirements in Good News Clubs

Praise God for:

  • New Christmas Party Clubs scheduled

  • Good News Clubs in new locations