FPC Go Team?
by Deborah Hughes
I've served the Lord in various ways throughout my life by teaching Sunday school, singing in the choir, serving on session, talking about the Lord to my friends and neighbors, etc. I had not had much experience with what I view as the very deepest privilege a Christian can have, that of directly leading people to Him. This has changed through my association with Good News Clubs, an after-school program developed by Child Evangelism Fellowship. Through the leadership of Noel and Carolyn Hildebrand, and along with two other ladies from different churches, I have shared in the work they do at Lowell Elementary's Good News Club. Lowell, established in 1895, is just two blocks away from our church. And, according to Oscar Rodriguez, it's one of the three schools that most Martin Park kids usually attend.
This year seven children have accepted Christ as their Savior during Lowell's Good News Club. When a child raises his or her hand to accept Christ during our prayer time, the child comes to me in a more private area of the classroom to be helped to better understand what he/she is about to do. I read a Bible verse, we read a children's track together, I answer any questions. Then, if the child seems to really understand what he/she is about to do, I get to lead the child the sinner's prayer of salvation. Each child then gets a free club Bible with his name and "birthday" in Jesus written in it.
Recently, "Juan," a boy who has been attending faithfully and had not seemed interested in salvation, decided it was time. We adults had been praying for him ... a quiet little guy who usually did not speak up and often didn't even seem to follow the lesson particularly well. We adults don't know why this was the week he gave his life to Jesus. Maybe it was because another boy rushed into the classroom before the start of the club, all mad and upset and I asked the other kids to lay hands on him and pray. Did this speak to Juan's spirit? When the upset kid's mother arrived saying he couldn't stay and they departed, this could've changed the room's atmosphere. Or, maybe, it was time because many of the other more active, talkative, quick-answer kids were absent, and it was a really small, quiet little group of friends that got to sit up really close to the adults to work on the memory verse and hear the Bible story.
Whatever it was, the Holy Spirit was working in Juan; that day he gave his heart to Jesus, and I got to help him do it! Through Juan's and the other children's decisions during this school year, one of my deepest desires for serving the Lord is being fulfilled.
Next school year there will be an opportunity for you to join the GNC team at Lowell and experience the same thing I have. The Hildebrands, who have been so faithful to Lowell and actually started the Good News Club need to step aside. I am excited to step and lead a FPC Go Team continuing the Club on Tuesdays. We are praying for a team, hopefully, with a male participant (since so many kids don't have dads), that wants to help kids to know and love Jesus. All the training is through Child Evangelism Fellowship and excellent curricular materials are provided. If you're up for that, please contact me or call Chris Popadich at the church office.