Good News Club, part 2

Yesterday I spent the afternoon in Vilonia, Arkansas visiting a Good News Club held in the local elementary school there. This club is one of my favorites (if not my favorite) and I love visiting with the kids and staff.

The main teacher is a older gentleman, a bit rough around the edges, but extremely lovable. He and his wife have been involved with CEF since before I was alive. His way of teaching is...interesting, to say the least, but the kids are learning and they do love coming to club.

Have you ever noticed the great penchant for cheesiness in American Christianity? I have. Yesterday during club we sang an old CEF song which, thankfully, has been laid to rest. One of the lines in the song went something like this: "so we travel this world together, my Bible and I...". As we sang that line I immediately pictured myself driving down the road chillaxing, with a giant Bible sitting next to me in the passenger's seat. In my mental picture, the Bible had hands and feet, like something akin to Psalty the Singing Songbook. I had to laugh.

For me, one of the best things about working with CEF has been the fact that it has pushed me outside of my "theological comfort zone". I've gotten to know some very wonderful people with some very different views of Scripture than mine. Yesterday after club I ran across this thought in a John Piper book:

In times of peril, a bringer of news is better than great philosophers. Nor does it matter if his accent is good. Or his grammar. Or his looks. If he has good news for beleaguered people, he will be more treasured than ten thousand theologians. Plain people who have heard the news and been saved by it should take heart from this. People need news first. Hard questions can be answered later. We need joyful, breathless news-bringers, not just intelligent news commentators.

As Piper says: "Christianity is news before it is theology". He goes on to remind us that, of course, we need both: the good news of the gospel, and the theology which explains that good news and applies it to our lives. But, oh, let's not forget that the good news came first! I don't remember the first time I heard the gospel, but I do remember the first time I comprehended it as good news for me. It was a glorious moment.

God continues to humble me and to remind me that it's not about the fitness of the message-bearer (whether that be me or another), but instead, it's all about the message - His message - of good news.

Good News Club

Good News Clubs are wrapping up around the Little Rock area and I am enjoying my visits to each one. I am genuinely in love with the workers from each church that make these clubs possible. They are a delight and on each visit I enjoy getting to know them just a little bit better. Relationships can be messy, but I don't think there is anything better than getting good and entangled in someone else's life, and struggling forward together. We need to do this in the Body of Christ, especially in the Body of Christ.

Anyway, yesterday I visit two clubs located in the heart of the city. The first club had grown from five kids in the first six week session to thirty kids in the second. One of the girls who attended the first session ran over to me and gave me a hug. "I thought you had forgotten about us!", she exclaimed. I explained to her that I was helping other boys and girls at other schools learn about Jesus. This seemed to satisfy her and she ran back to join the group.

In this club I rotated between two groups of children - the rowdy little ones and the rambunctious older ones - and observed them learning Bible verses, participating in an object lesson about sin, writing down prayer requests for the "God Can", constructing a craft, and hearing about Satan's fall, not to mention singing, loudly, "God loves me, I know He does...", complete with clapping, stomping, and chest thumps.

Near the end of club, one of the leaders ran over to her co-leader and whispered something furtively in her ear. The co-leader's face broke into a wide smile. I later learned that they were discussing two little girls from this past summer's outreach who had heard the gospel at a 5-Day Club and since then had been coming to church regularly. The leader had learned at church the previous day that the two little girls plan on being baptized very soon. And there was much rejoicing.

It is wonderful to work with people who have such a burden to reach others with the gospel. Sometimes it feels like we're not getting anywhere, but then I am reminded how God can use little things, even years later, to bring someone to Himself. I continue to hear testimony of people who first heard the gospel and believed at a Good News Club. Children are such complicated little creatures. Who knows how God will choose to work in their lives?

These visits renew my vision and encourage me to just keep going. Ministry can be such a guessing game at times. There's not a set formula for ministry "success", and anyway, the definition of success is sketchy at best when it comes to ministry. Faithful obedience is what counts, and that is hard. I often forget that while I'm here in my little office answering e-mail, returning phone calls, planning training sessions, and praying, that lives are being changed.

It's good to be reminded every once in awhile.

Taking Stock

Well, like it or not, I'm back in Little Rock.

That is what I tell myself "like it or not, Jeanne. You're back in Little Rock." Before Christmas break I was feeling worn out and discouraged. Like I was treading water, but not really getting anywhere, and my frustration level was at an all-time high. So I went to Missouri for a few weeks, and didn't think about any of it. Surprisingly, it didn't all just disappear. What a shock.

But now that I'm back, it's time to take stock of the situation. It's the same for the most part. I did, however, manage to get in touch with a club coordinator who likes to Stonewall Jackson me and he sounded really glad to hear from me and even told me to "keep warm in this cold weather! Ha, ha, ha!". It was so strange that after I got off the phone I sat for a few minutes just staring into space, not quite certain if I had entered the Twilight Zone, or not. Body snatchers? I thought. Drugs? I don't know. It was a weird, but also very pleasant, surprise.

Earlier this week I got the "revelation" that we have five Good News Club going in the Little Rock area. Five! That's a 500% increase over last year. It's not thirty, which was the projected goal, but it is something. And every one of those clubs has a story, which, if I sat down and told you, you would probably be extremely bored by, but I know them, and that's enough. I know the coordinators, the teachers, the children. I've cried over them, prayed over them, laughed over them, wanted to curse over them a few times, and, well, enjoyed them.

Now I'm back in the saddle again, praying that God would soften my hardened and all-too-easily frustrated heart. As I said, every one of the clubs (five) and potential clubs (twenty), has a story. As a Type A, goal-oriented person it's hard for me not to view them as simply a check mark on my to-do list. I have a job to do, for pity sakes' , and I want to do it well. If you, partner church, don't get your act together, how will that happen? Sigh...

But these are churches made up of individuals with issues, hurts, joys, agendas, and also, sin. Just like me. Will we have thirty After-school Good News Clubs by the time I leave Little Rock? Doubtful. But as I've always suspected, ministry is meant to change me. And currently my heart is overwhelmed by the conviction that I haven't prayed enough for this ministry and the individual lives directly involved in it. It appears to me that most, if not all, of my effort over the past four months has been driven by my flesh instead of by the Spirit. This is, of course, to my shame.

I am currently pondering the verse from 1 Timothy which says to "discipline yourselves for the purpose of godliness", which includes the discipline of prayer, but more on that later. Much more. For now I am thankful that despite all of my effort, God has still seen fit to bless us with five Good News Clubs. Grace is abundant indeed.

Like it or not, I'm back in Little Rock! :)

Enough

Today was a beautiful day.

After what feels like weeks, months, years of constant rain here in central Arkansas, it was nice to see an endless stretch of clear blue sky. I drove along the main road of downtown and admired the red maples planted in steady intervals along the street. I spent some time browsing the shelves of a used bookstore, although I came away empty-handed. I felt too restless to seriously consider any of the offerings found there.

I love this adventure I am on. I love the people I am meeting. I love my job. I love the fact that yesterday we got official permission from the Little Rock School District to hold Good News Clubs in the schools. I love my church. I love the beauty of central Arkansas. But I do not love everything here. Some things about this new life are hard, and make me feel restless. Mostly the fact that I am surrounded by strange and unfamiliar people and places. Mostly the fact that I can't go over to my best friend's house and talk the night away with her, or drop by my mom's house, eat a little dinner, and complain about the little I have to complain about in life.

I am a fairly independent person. In fact, I have always wanted to move to a completely new city where no one knows me and build a life. Well, I guess my dream came true. Only, I would like someone to go to the movies with now. But perhaps that is the price I pay for this experience. This for that. A little loneliness for a year of new experiences in a new city. At any rate, it has definitely been a stretching experience.

There are things to love and hate here, as in any place or season of life. I am learning, fitfully, sometimes faithlessly, to be content. I know God has guided me here, and it's not a perfect place where all my dreams are coming true, but another place where He is teaching and refining me. There is nothing mystical about it, only getting up day-by-day to live by faith and learn (or maybe I should say re-learn) that He is enough.

I gotta preach to myself sometimes, you know?

Update from Little Rock

I've been working with CEF of Central Arkansas for two months now, and I know it sounds so cliche, but it's hard to believe. Honestly, it feels like I've been here for a much longer period of time, and yet I feel like I'm just now getting the hang of things. Really, just ten more months? I don't think I'll be done with Little Rock by then. Possibly it will be done with me, though. I don't know what that means exactly, but it sounds cryptic, doesn't it?

I love this job. At times I feel guilty for drawing a salary for doing this thing I love so much. I hope no one finds out! There have been frustrations, yes, and lots of them. One them is connecting with contacts from each church in order to get their Good News Club started. Today, after many ignored phone messages, one of the churches finally got back to me and told me the bad news: they decided they didn't want to hold a club after all. This is totally fine with me.

I know I'm supposed to feel indignant that they are revoking the commitment they made to CEF in the spring. Possibly I should fall to the floor screaming "NOOOOOOO!", but honestly what makes me the most peeved is that they don't just tell me. They knew, probably right after Little Rock '09, that they had no intention of holding a Good News Club this fall. Why drag out the inevitable? I have so many other churches who actually want to hold a club that it frustrates me to expend so much effort in trying to contact a church that isn't really into CEF when I could be pouring that time and effort into a church that really is into CEF.

Like one of the children's pastors here who heads up our first ever After-school Good News Club. He and his team have been working for over a year to start this club, and when I go to visit I just smile. First of all, the kids love him and his team. Secondly, he is super organized - he color-codes AND alphabetizes. I'm so in love! And today a member of the team called me to tell me that he had talked with a principal from Bald Knob (I have no idea where that is) this weekend who wants a Good News Club in her school. They're doing my work for me! I'm not offended by churches with no heart for this ministry, certainly God doesn't call everyone to it, and that's okay, but they could at least stop wasting my time. Augh!

Tomorrow is, Lord willing, going to be another full day as I meet with three different churches to discuss clubs. I love these meetings because I'm able to sit down and hear other people's stories, and they are always so interesting, both the people and the stories. One of the meetings is with one of my favorite ministers from a local Methodist church. I talked with him today, and after I had identified myself ("hello, this is Jeanne Hulme with CEF...") he exclaimed "hello my friend!", like we were best pals, even though I have only met him once, and only talked with him a few times since then. Gotta love these Southerners...

Yes, it's been a good few months all in all, and from all appearances it will only get better. God is so faithful and kind, that I have experienced, well, all of my life really, but certainly during these last few months especially. What His Word says is true: there is no want when you follow Him.

Goodnight, y'all.

Good News Club

This afternoon the first official After-school Good News Club was held in the Greater Little Rock area!

Actually, the club was held in a school district outside of Little Rock in the small community of Vilonia. We had fifteen children in attendance, and the club went off without a hitch. It was the very first After-school Good News Club I had ever attended, taught, and supervised. It was a little backwards, but it worked. God sometimes surprises me with crazy things like that.

I continue to experience moments of culture shock here in Arkansas, and today was no exception. When CEF first starts an After-school Good News Club in a new school you expect people to be a bit leary or suspicious of the program, as if we where there to brainwash the children with our dirty Jesus-talk. I "expected" that this would be the case in Vilonia as well. Not so. From the moment we walked in the school personnal were laughing and joking around with the team, which consisted of the children's pastor and three other members of the congregation.

As we walked into the library to set up our sign-in station, the librarians greeted us warmly with their soft southern drawls, and a few minutes later one of them whipped out a photo album. The three older members of our team flocked over to her ooo-ing and aw-ing over pictures of her grandchildren. Pastor Dan must have read my mind as I stood there watching this scene unfold. "Yeah, this is a real closed-knit community...", he said by way of explanation. I flashed him a smile, not minding one bit. There are times when I am thankful for smooth sailing and receptive hearts!

I can't help but fall in love with the people of Arkansas. I am really such a snob sometimes, but if I had to stick around here for awhile, I don't think it would be the worse thing. In fact, it just might be the best thing that's ever happened to me. Confession time? Little Rock is starting to feel like home, and the people here are leaving their mark on my heart.