“Neenar, Neenar, Neenar!” was the noise that Owen used for an emergency vehicle from having lived in London. My son Jonathan and Owen were neighbors and best friends at West Point where we first hosted a Good News Club in our home.
Neither of my next-door moms would allow their kids to attend the club and neither professed a faith in Jesus. Then one summer, we hosted a 5-Day Club in our backyard taught by a team of students from Kings College, NY. With kids running around out back having fun, Owen wanted to know what was going on. Every day he would meet Jonathan at the sandbox to find out what he had learned that day about Jesus.
The Army moved us before finding out how God watered those gospel seeds. I still pray for Owen as the Lord brings him to mind, trusting He completed the work. At each of our next postings, God sent us to small churches that were open to having “Backyard Bible Clubs” in neighborhoods rather than a central VBS. As our family participated, we were stretched in faith, and were privileged to see our children’s friends pray to receive Jesus.
Hosting a 5-Day Club means:
- You proclaim your faith in Jesus for all your neighbors to clearly see. One of the moms who would not allow her daughter to come approached me one day to ask me what it meant to “be born again.” Another mom of a toddler said she couldn’t wait until her daughter was old enough to come to 5-Day Club.
- You step out of your comfort zone as you deliver invitations and meet new people. I remember clearly one year the Lord was asking me to invite families from farther afield than I had before. I told Him, “I don’t want to,” but did it anyway. When I had completed the circuit, I stood still, told God I did what He told me to and was flooded with joy – His gift! A family with four children two streets over sent their children for the first time.
- Your children see that your faith is not just words, but active and powerful through God’s Spirit in you. Each of my four children is trusting the Lord, active in fellowship, and bringing up their children in the Lord. I truly believe that Good News and 5-Day Clubs played a role in their discipleship and grounding in the Gospel. Our God is faithful!
Will you pray with us for the Lord to raise up 5-Day Club teams and sponsoring homes to reach children during the summer months here on the Peninsula?
Pray also that teens will hear His call and be trained to lead the clubs. Their lives will be impacted and their faith strengthened as they see God at work!
By Martha Clouse
GNC Coordinator
