From mid September through early May, on Wednesday evenings it is particularly difficult to find a parking space around our church. There are many church members in thekitchen preparing dinner for all those involved in the different activities that will take place tonight. There are several activities taking place, but none as big as the AWANA program. Our AWANA (stands for Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed) program is geared for ages three years old through sixth grade. This program attracts an average of 150 children per week, and approximately one-fourth do not regularly attend any church in our community. There are eighty committed workers in eight departments and they are led by two extremely committed ladies in our church. The Commander is Nanc
y Miles: She is assisted by Darla Walker. These two have the daunting task of organizing this mission in our church/community. The children memorize scripture, have recreation time, have a time of praises in song, give a mission offering, pick a missionary to study and earn awards as they advance through their books each week. The goal of AWANA is to build a solid Biblical foundation in God's son, Jesus Christ. But the ultimate goal is for the children to come to a realization that they need to develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. In the Great Commission, Jesus commands us to go into our community and spread the word. Our AWANA program is truly home missions in action.Photographs above of opening activities at
AWANA this evening.
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5 comments:
It really is great to see the Church be so mission minded. I know sometimes we view this as just something FBC does, but this trully is a great mission for God. Just because they are coming to us does not mean it is not a mission. I was truly blessed to be a part of such a great mission.
It is such a beautiful experience on Wednesday night to see these childrens faces and to get to talk with them and know them. The picture did not get to show the 3-5 year old cubbies. They are in the gym having game time while we have our opening. That's another 20-25 club members. Then we have our nursery workers who care for our leaders babies while they serve. We have enough people on Wednesday evening that we need a traffic guard for safety reasons. What a great problem. We have our bus driver and his helper who serve so willingly. We also have our sound board workers, who run our sound and our power point. We have counselors who talk, along with Bro Jay, to children who are thinking about or are ready to make Christ the center of their life. What an experience to be there when a child prays to receive Christ as their Saviour. And last but not least we have our AWANA band. They play praise songs on Lab Quest night and lead us in worship about 4 times a year. This is where Pastor Jay applies science theories to Biblical truths with our older clubbers. I'm sure all our leaders feel blessed to be able to serve God in this great mission.
Whoops! I forgot our game time leaders Abby and Alex. They have their hands full for sure. Thanks to everyone who serves so willingly.
Thank you Nancy; I knew if I threw the ball your direction, you would catch it and run for a touchdown (no box passing to in the box). I can't tell you how humbling it is when one of these children tell you that they selected you as their missionary. They do a short interview, ask for a photo sometimes; they are SO sincere about what they are doing. It always makes me take a self-inventory of where my priorities really are. God has DEFINATELY given you the talent to organize so many people doing so many things in such a short period of time. As I said in my blog, AWANAs are truly home missions with lotsa hands and feet!
Today our music minister and I were asked to make a house visit to one of our 4th grade AWANA clubbers. His grandmother had died that morning and he was feeling a little down. We were glad to make the call. While talking with him about his grandmother Steve asked him if he had any other questions or concerns he wanted to discuss. He replied, "when can I get baptized?" I asked Jesus into my heart at Lab Quest. Praise the Lord! That makes it all worth it.
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