Eric and Dawn Anderson:
We had our first Awana meeting last week, after school Fri. 4-5:30. I had thought maybe 12-15 kids would come out, we had 29! Most all of them are not churched, one had never heard of the Bible before. I’m psyched, and scared! We need quality laborers, for this harvest field is definitely ripe.
Bill and Karla Allen:
Our fall was already heavily planned and scheduled before we attended the “Discover Awana” program, as was the same situation for several other Village Missionaries. While in our groups at Awana this was discussed as well as the need to alert the area Awana missionaries as to details of the “VM Pilot Program” and the period for training our helpers. Awana also told us there is no “magic number” of weeks or special dates required to accomplish the program. So, we began our Fall knowing we had to complete several tasks before throwing ourselves completely into the Awana Program.
Trying to work with the Awana Missionary’s schedule, we were not able to schedule training for our helpers until Sunday October 21. We plan to begin our club the second week of November. We may go a little longer in the Spring this year to balance out the late start.In August when we arrived home from “Discover Awana,” we dedicated the entire Sunday evening service to what we had discussed and learned in the program.
We wore the shirts we had purchased in Chicago with the “Awana logo,” involved the entire congregation and it was a full informative evening. Afterward my wife and I went to a restaurant in Oneonta for a light supper. We were barely seated and had not even received our menus when the restaurant manager came and stood at the side of our table. He said, “So you’re with Awana! When do you meet and where?” So, we told him! He came over again in the evening and we had a chat about the entire set-up and program. He said to drop by the restaurant anytime when we had the dates and times settled and let him know the details. He has moved his family here from out of state and though the children are involved in an after school program they were previously involved in Awana, appreciated the quality programming, and want to get back into it.
We sent a letter to all of the kids who had attended our VBS this summer. We told them we were praying for them as they got all organized back in school this fall. We sent them some age appropriate “work sheets” that refreshed their minds about the Bible stories they heard in VBS. Then, we told them about the Awana program we are planning to start. Though most of these children do not attend church anywhere, several of their parents have phoned for more details. One father has several needs of his own and spent quite a while addressing them with me on the phone. I was able to share the Gospel with him. He plans to arrange their family schedule so his little girl can attend our Awana Club.
My wife was at a Candle Party “home show” last week and told the demonstrator about our plans to begin an Awana Club and they discussed it openly right in the middle of the party. The lady said she would love for some of her children to be involved in Awana. Then, she went on to say her children knew many other children in the neighborhood they could bring. And, she was glad we were starting later because it would not interfere with her children’s football program.
Our church members and both of us have been telling our friends and neighbor children about the new club. We are getting all positive feedback and expect to have a larger club than we had originally anticipated. So, we have our training session planned for Sunday after church with a potluck lunch. We have purchased colorful posters to place in strategic areas. We are advertising with a “News Release” in two local newspapers, as well as a couple of the “penny shopper papers.” Our congregation is faithfully “bathing” this ministry in prayer. We are waiting to see the blessings God will send our way.
Ken and Kathy Wagstaff:
We are in the process of getting ready for Awana. We had a day of training with our local missionary and went to an Awana conference for some workshops. We have several people who would like to work with Awana but they don’t have any knowledge of how a club works, the rules, etc. Our commander and directors are experienced but the leaders need more training so we are having another day with the Awana missionary and then will probably start our club in January. We need several planning meetings and prayer meetings specifically for Awana. We want to do this right, not learn as we go.
Howard and Nancy Carr:
We will be starting on Nov. 4; Sunday Nights from 6-7:30. Bob Bennett, the Awana missionary for our area is being very helpful. Because of our schedule and his, he was unable to get to us until September 30 for training. So we are now officially trained and there are four of us altogether that are committed to every Sunday night. We are hoping that more will join us. We are planning an exciting night with balloons, cupcakes, and other activities to launch our first night. We are sending out fliers asking kids to come join us for our first night of Awana. Bob has been able to get us some supplies like older shirts, Awana flag, etc. to help us out. So we are excited and looking forward to a good year of Awana reaching kids for Christ.
Jim and Judy Foster:
We were to have our first Awana last Sunday night. We had 9 adult workers, 1 visiting adult, 2 teen workers but only 1 child. We went ahead and had a mock meeting, as most did not know anything about Awana. We had the lesson, singing, games, etc. All seemed to enjoy the evening and were more relaxed about what it is all about. At the training they had suggested a ‘mock’ Awana and Sunday night fit that!
We did not realize that Mon. was a holiday and no school so that was part of the reason for no more kids. There is only about 30 children 3yr.-6th grade in the area around our town so we know there will never be a big group.
We are encouraged with all the help from our small church and know God is going to work.
Please pray for kids to come. Transportation is a problem as Washington passed a law that all children under 4 ft. 9 in. have to be in a booster seat. Most of our people are Senior citizens so transporting within the law will not be an easy fix to the problem.
and until the Lord answers, we will continue to be creative with the space we do have. I have had to make different schedules for different nights in order to make the most of our building. Most nights, the Cubbies are downstairs in a back “room” which is made a room by sliding out a divider. The remaining part of the basement is used for handbook time and game time. We are unable to use the game square because of our size. However, since no one really knows what it is (except me), it has not affected game time. We even used some of the games we played at Discover Awana this past week! 
