Three weeks of fair - over 300 kids!

Good News Club house sign shows the fun inside!

We had a variety of weather... cold
 and soaking wet to sweltering

Face painting (we were given some new
high quality paints by a woman at one of the fairs,
which was a blessing; it looks fantastic)

The Wordless Book Gospel story with the "magic bag"

Fair at night (post-rain)

Story in progress: please wait!

What we've been up to the last two weeks!

Here's a few testimonies from your friendly neighborhood Christian Youth in Action!

Building Our Lives on Jesus: Our first two weeks of club are over, and boy did we have some funny kids! One teacher asked for a review question, "What did...

There'll be stories like these all summer long!

The treasure I've always had, but still missed.

   Last Wednesday I had a chance to go to a Good News Club where I had been the missionary of the year. It was their last day before school let out, so prizes were awarded and parents invited for supper and a presentation from their children afterward. The amazing woman who runs the club invited me to tell the story for the evening, and she said, “the kids would like to give you their missionary offering in person.” I thought alright, she must want to hand me a check for the money the kids raised. But, this lady being who she is, she had a very different idea.

CEF in Russia

For the last year now, Child Evangelism Fellowship has been working with the Russia Baptist Union to help train teachers in presenting the Gospel!

 I'm always interested in how God is working in the former Soviet Union (particularly Russia); it seems the Protestant church there has flourished, despite the changing political climate which is becoming hostile towards non-Orthodox religion. Maybe the church rifts go too deep for Protestant-Orthodox partnerships, but hopefully they can retain a peaceful coexistence, whatever the state does. According to this article from CEF's website, CEF of Russia has worked with "Orthodox, Baptist, Lutheran, Pentecostal and Charismatic" church groups, reaching over 150,000 children in 2011.

Teaching again!

It seems like a loong time since I've taught 5-day club.

It has actually been a couple years, I suppose.

But a couple weeks ago, I got to teach with a couple of missionaries who needed a third team member.

What will CYIA look like this year?

This year, nine young people from Western Wisconsin will be training to reach kids with the Gospel. They'll be training with two team leaders, who have taught 5-day clubs for years and are now willing to share what they know with the younger teens. 

Here's a few things that these summer missionaries will learn this summer...

At the risk of being over-obvious...

They'll learn how to teach! And not just during the two-week training. One missionary said last year, “we were having difficulties teaching [at club] because of the large variety of ages and there were 36 kids. So we split the club, and it worked.” Another teen said she learned that God “can empower me to teach 25 kids just as well as 2.”

“I am excited to learn this year,” says another returning student from La Crosse, “and to review my lessons from last year.” She adds, “Watching those kids [last year] understand and accept the gift God has given was so cool.”

CYIA Winter Retreat!

This weekend a group of us came together for a Christian Youth in Action winter retreat. It was a time of refreshment and fun for everyone who came, though I think our visitors from down south felt it was a little chilly (and it was)!

Ready for lunch! And what a delicious lunch, too.

"Christian Youth in Action" in a parent's words

I can talk for hours or days on end about the things CEF and Christian Youth in Action do to evangelize to children and to disciple teenagers. But I love hearing from other people - and sharing their stories as well. Here with a parent's take on things is... full disclosure... my mother. According to her, Christian Youth in Action has a lasting impact.

I have 3 daughters who have participated in CYIA and [I] have gotten to know several other CYIA teens over the years. Here are a few of the reasons I highly recommend CYIA.

The training at CYIA is exceptional. The teens are extremely well equipped to teach children the truth of the Gospel. Beyond that, the teens gain confidence in communicating with all age groups. They also come to understand that it is God who works to draw people to Himself. They become excited about God's work and humbled as they see Him accomplish His purpose through them.

This excitement goes well beyond 5-day clubs, as [the teens] have an increased awareness of God's work in everyone around them. All the teens I've spoken with have appreciated the friendships they have built with like-minded young people. I believe this experience encourages the teens to continue to seek such friendships outside of CYIA. 

Summer statistics

Western Wisconsin by the numbers...


La Crosse Interstate Fair: 265 children reached, 85 decisions for Christ
Monroe County Fair: 12 children heard the Gospel, 350 books distributed

5-day Clubs:

Tomah area: 60 children reached, 4 decisions
La Crosse area: 265 children reached, 24 decisions
Eau Claire area: 78 children reached, 13 decisions

That's 126 children in Western Wisconsin who made decisions for Christ through CEF this summer!

The REAL Good News

"Bank robbers sin."
The little girl was adament on that point.

"People who rob banks. Bullies at my school. My big brothers; they're mean to me."

Those were her answers to our question, "Who has sinned?" Over the course of Good News Club, we went through the gospel five or six times, and each time the girl replied, "bad people have sinned." Whenever that happened we told her, "the Bible says in Romans 3:23 that ALL have sinned. That includes me and you." It seemed she was beginning to understand, so Mrs. Weibel asked the little girl if she could tell US the gospel. The little girl picked up her Wordless Book bracelet and began.
"The gold is like some roads in heaven where God lives. The dark is like bad things that bad people do."

I stopped her a second and asked, "Who has done bad things?"

"People who rob banks." ...OK, so we weren't there yet.

Keeping up with Testimonies

Unless you, dear reader, know a hardcore CEF/CYIA participant (and I happen to know several - what a coincidence), you may not have heard testimonies recently of the great work God is doing through CEF in the Midwest region!

My coworker's comment when I told him what I was doing was "wow, I haven't heard of CEF in a long time. Are they still around?"

I think Child Evangelism PR needs a reboot, maybe. But you didn't hear that from me.

Hopefully you (dear reader) know all about what CEF has been doing in Western Wisconsin over the past few years. But just in case you haven't, I've compiled a list of links to check out for testimonies, news, and some all-around fantastic pictures of teens and kids and grown-ups serving the Lord.
Check them out!

* Testimonies from Western Wisconsin hosts, parents, teachers, etc.
* A photo gallery of CYIA 2010 
* Quotes from children (what this blog is really about!)
* For old photos (I mean like ancient, ancient, 2008-2009 photos), see here and here

Check out the stories. Are you excited? :)

Exciting Stuff!

265 children were reached during the La Crosse Interstate Fair with 85 professing faith in Jesus Christ. Exciting?? Yes!

One more exciting thing: they were reached by teenagers from Western Wisconsin!

When you put those two things together, you may see what I see...

Teen Mentorship

A study by the Barna Group indicated that 6% of teens listed “pastors or other religious leaders they know personally” as their top role models, while 6% listed “entertainers (including musicians and actors)” - an interesting similarity in statistics.
But even with parents excluded from the role model survey (they had been the top response at first), a "close relation" to the teen came out at the top (37%).

Unfortunately, as the president of the Barna Group pointed out, "teens rarely identified spiritual mentors" in the survey.
 

Change is Coming

So here we go, getting ready for another summer of seeing God transform lives!











This year, I'm not interning. Just working with the teens as they preach the Gospel.

There's nothing more fulfilling than seeing God work in the lives of young people - or older people. And that's what CEF is about... reaching children, and their families and caregivers. One child who had attended 5-day club was able to present the Gospel to children and parents at a fair later that year! She got to see the Lord use her as a worker for His kingdom - is there anything more exciting or life-changing than that?

The changes God produces in our lives have an effect on each person we come in contact with, bringing His love further and further outward until the whole world has heard the Good News!

Is this the summer when every tribe, every tongue, and every nation will hear it? God can transform any life; there is no task too large for God.

The last post of quotes :)

T: What was Cain's punishment?
C: He wouldn't have a home and when he planted a seed it would have less on it.

C: Sin is when you do something not respecting God.

T: How can you help teachers in India?
C (who wasn't paying attention): By listening very carefully.

C: Deceiving means not doing something you're supposed to do.

C (after hearing how Jesus died): Hey, that reminds me of Narnia, when Aslan died for that boy Edmund.

(Later we realized that an altar - like in our Bible story - was like the Stone Table. So cool how the kids put it together.)

T: You know what a quiet time is?
C: When you're asleep.

One boy's prayer request: "That we'll see each other again"

T: What's heaven like?
C: A big place with lots of angels in it!

T: What did Hannah name her baby?
C: Jesus?

************************************************************************

STOP a second

It was a Monday, I believe, when Sammi was at club.
She was almost junior high age, so she was a little older than some of the other kids. But she and her siblings had a lot of fun playing games with us. For one game I had all the kids line up and as I read a "right heart attitude", they could take a giant step forward. For each "wrong heart attitude", they had to stay where they were. If someone moved when they weren't supposed to, we would send them back to the starting line.
The game may not sound very exciting, but the kids liked it - maybe because it was easy to tell which was a right attitude and which was a wrong one!
But Sammi surprised me when the group of kids got close to the finish line.
I read, "I talk to God every day, every chance I get," and all the other kids took a big step forward.
But Sammi stayed back.
"Sammi," I said in surprise. "Why didn't you take a big step?"
"Because," said Sammi, "I don't do that all the time."
I explained that, while the attitudes I was reading were good, the kids didn't have to step forward only if they had those attitudes. Sammi said, "Ohh," and stepped up to the other kids.
That was all.

But Sammi's attitude got me thinking.

It took guts to stop when everyone else kept moving forward. It took even more guts to speak up and say, "I don't do that all the time." So I think maybe we had it backwards all summer. The kids are the teachers... and we teenagers just show up to learn from them.

Sammi's actions taught me to stop and think about the true nature of my relationship with God; not to just move forward with things. Sometimes I assume everyone else must have a word from God I don't; surely they're all moving in the right direction!

But maybe God just wants me to stop.

The college I'm attending this fall has a motto based on what Jesus said to Martha in Luke 10; "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

Everyone else may be "worried... about many things", but you and I need to stop and say "there is something I'm not doing, and it's what I need to do. I need to get closer to God."

That's what won't be taken away from us at the finish line.

MORE Kids Quotes

This blog has become all about the kids quotes! But uh, I'm not sure I can remember anything else from this week. :) It went by so fast! We taught 3 clubs a day so the days were full and sticky (juice on the parachute in 90-degree weather, anyone?).

The quotes might be the most telling...
________________________________________________________

"Jesus is the way, Jesus is the way. Jesus is the only way at club today!"
- a kid at our park club who loved rhymes.

Teacher:"Why where the Christians praying? Maybe something bad had happened..."
Child:"Maybe hamburgers fell from the sky!"

Teacher:"What has God given to you?"
Child:"My Star Wars video games and lightsaber!"

Teacher:"How can you come to God with a right heart attitude?"
Child:"Talk to him nicely."

Teacher:"What is a missionary?"
Child:"Someone who tells anybody about Jesus!"

Host's child when his dad came in: "Daddy, this is 5-day club!"

T:"What do you think they had at the feast?"
C:"Chicken!"
C:"Ribs!"
C:"Cow tongue!"
Teachers:"Cow tongue?!"

Sometimes it's the teachers that get a little... odd.

Teacher:"He probably had a lot of doctors but none of them knew anything! So..."

Teacher:"Wow! That was awesome! Style points!"
Kid:"Yay! We get more points!"
Teacher:"...Oops."

An amazing joke from this week's teacher:
Knock knock!
Who's there?
Broken pencil!
Broken pencil who?
Never mind; it's pointless. :D

Children know

Sometimes kids are right on!

Like at 5-day club last week - a little girl was asked how Jesus came to earth. She replied, "He came down from heaven and he was a baby, and his parents birthed him."

An eight-year-old boy explained Cain's punishment as "he had to walk away from God and others."

And a little girl who accepted Jesus as her Savior was positive that she was "part of God's family."

Other times, kids' thinking is just a little mixed up.

- "Jesus gave us our blood when he died."
- "Jesus shared his blood on the cross" (explaining Hebrews 9:22).
- "Adam and Eve left the garden 'cause they ate them pears and sinned."

Kids can be very confused: one little girl announced at club, "you won't sin when you're a mom!"

Another girl said "I thought Joseph was Jesus' father", when Jesus was called God's son.

It's an honor to teach kids the truth about Jesus... but it's fun to hear what they think you said about him too. :)

Quotes from the Clubhouse

Quotes from kids at the fair trailer:

Missionary (showing the Wordless Book): How is this book different from other books?...

There are no words, are there?

Child: Did someone pull them off??

Missionary: What are some things God created?

Child: He made the Ferris wheel!

Child to missionary: I remember you from 5-day club last year!!!

Child (complimenting us on the Wordless Book presentation): It was all good... except for the blood.

Child: Did God make drugs?

Missionary: How can you be cleaned up from your sin?

Child: By being baptized?

Missionary: What's the punishment for your sin?

Child: God has to spread apart from you

Celebrate!

Good news (and this besides the Gospel)!

This past week my teaching buddy and I were privileged to lead over three children to Christ!

Praise God!

It's harder to tell when a large group of children is praying with you, to know whether they understand and accept it or not. But we got to talk to a few individually, so that's why I say "over three." Most likely there were kids in the large groups that truly meant their prayer of response. And perhaps some of those personally counseled three haven't truly accepted it!

But that's OK... we've done our part, and God did the rest.

Hurray for God! Hurray for teaching buddies! And hurray for having a voice at the end of a long week of teaching!

Actually, I went to Mauston for a host meeting today, and was able to do the presentation in an almost normal voice. I say that with a huge smile, because my voice never ever heals this quickly from a cold.

Whoo, there's still so much scheduling to do - host meetings or mailings that need to take place - and more than a few calls and emails. Please pray I will rely on God and do my best...