Summer ministry is always a whirlwind of emotion. You really feel for the situations that are ‘crazy hard’ that these kids call ‘everyday life.’ You are burdened with the way they live, and yet frustrated often at their low attention span and more than often their poor behavior. And, yet, in a moment that can change and they start asking questions… questions that they never would have asked to anyone unless the gospel was talked about.
Questions like…
*Why does God allow violence and shooting?
*Is Jesus and the devil equal?
*Why did Jesus have to die?
*Why can’t I be good enough to go to heaven?

All questions that can lead into the most important question ….”How do I get to go to Heaven?”
We got to share that ‘good news’ of salvation with these kids; and what a privilege it was!

A testimony from a summer missionary… “At one summer club there was this precious little girl, about 5 or 6 years old. From the first day of club, she just hung on me and each day of club it was the same thing. She would just jump into my arms. Then, one day, she said, ‘Will you be my mommy?’ I was stunned. I said to her, ‘But your mommy would miss you.’ She responded, ‘I don’t have a mommy … would you be my mommy?’ I said, ‘Who takes care of you?’ She said, ‘My grandmother.’ I told her, ‘Your grandmother would miss you.’ She looked at me and said, ‘My grandmother said she doesn’t want me anymore.”

“He was another one of those kids that just hung on you and wanted to be loved—a boy about the age of 5 or 6. One day, when he was giving me a hug, a switchblade knife fell out of his pocket. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I asked him, ‘Where did you get this? Who does it belong to?’ He responded, ‘It’s mine.’ The knife had a button on it. Fortunately, the blade was not visible at the time, but I thought to myself … what if, when he was hugging me, the button was accidently activated? And what in the world is a young boy doing with a switchblade?

After meeting hundreds of children this summer at clubs, stopping several fights, witnessing 2 drug busts, men with guns, boys with knives, being disrespected and cussed at by 7 year olds, I would not have traded this summer’s ministry for the world!

These were some of the challenges members of our summer teams have faced in the past. As you can imagine, things have not gotten better … the disrespect, misbehavior has increased, the brokenness in the children’s lives has increased, the lack of self- worth has increased … then add to it the school shootings and other things happening in the world and our post-pandemic culture!
Challenges? Yes! Prayers needed? Yes! Yes!

We have been doing prayer walks around our Syracuse city schools the second Saturday of each month.

Our next prayer walk will be Saturday, July 9, at 8:30 AM at Porter School, and the other prayer walk, the same day, same time will be at Seymour School.

We walk around in groups of 2’s and 3’s for about a half hour.  Can you join us?

If you are not able to come, please be in prayer for these 2 schools that we might be able to have an after-school Good News Club there this fall!

We are excited! Again, this year we will be able to have our 4^th in-person Children’s Ministry Conference this fall.

The date:  Saturday, Oct. 1

The event will be held at the Syracuse Alliance Church on Midland Ave. in Syracuse. We will start at 8:30 with coffee.

We will run 2 tracks.  Track 1 will be for new After-School Good News Club workers, church children’s workers, and it could be a ‘refresher’ for those already teaching. Track 2 will be for ‘seasoned’ teachers and will broaden their teaching skills.

Track 1 will include topics like “Teaching the Bible Lesson to the Unsaved,” “Challenging the Saved Child in a Bible Lesson,” Making Scripture Memorization Relevant,” “Counseling a Child for Salvation,” “Classroom Management,” and a “Good News Club Demonstration” …. the content from this seminar will benefit all church children’s workers.

Track 2 will include topics like “Kids at Risk,” “Working with Pre-Schools,” “Developing a Child’s Appreciation for God,” “Keeping Kids Engaged,” “Teaching Children with Special Needs, “Helping Parents & Teachers to Encourage Children to have a Daily Time with the Lord” (to include prayer, Bible and devotionals),  and a seminar on “Christmas Clubs!”

We have a lot of excellent topics with some of the best seminar instructors teaching. Yes, participants can pick and choose the seminars they would like to attend. This will be an all-day event with a Chick Fil A lunch. A conference brochure will be available shortly.  We wanted you to put the date on your calendar now!

At a Good News Club, we gave our kids a piece of paper and asked them to respond … here are some of their replies…

*I learned to love others and treat my enemies with respect.  (We had just taught a lesson from Matt. 5:44 … I guess the lesson and memory verse stuck!)

*I’ve learned to let Jesus into my heart.

*I like Good News Club because we learned the 66 books of the Bible.  I like to sing the holy songs.  I also learned Bible verses. Here is one: “Be strong and courageous.  Don’t be afraid for the Lord God is with you.  He will never leave you. (Deut. 31:6) (signed… with love, Johnny)

*I’ve learned to not let myself be overcome by sin (WOW!) Another thing I’ve learned to do is to pray to God every day.

*I like the songs we sing at club.  But what I like the most is… in God we have the victory, and we honor the true God and not the wrong God.

“I like Good News Club because we have snacks and sing songs about God and we learn about Jesus.  Praying for forgiveness is never fun because you have sinned.

(Sweet story…) When teaching the Feeding of the 5,000, and after Jesus blest the little lunch, the club teacher asked, ‘What do you think Jesus did next?’  Hands flew up … the teacher pointed to one little girl who was so enthusiastic.  She responded, “He ate it!”