North Valley News

Ministry Newsletter of Joel Cripe,

Child Evangelism Fellowship

June 2022

Bouncing Back

2020 was a difficult time for the world. Covid affected every person and every ministry, and that includes our ministry in the North Central Valley. Here is what the numbers tell us.

In the 2019-2020 Good News Club year, 696 children were enrolled in 29 clubs, with 99 professions of faith. All the clubs were in-person, and we were in 28 different schools (one school had two clubs), and growing!

The very next school year (2020-2021), during the heart of Covid, 95 children were enrolled in 8 clubs with 5 professions of faith. Four of those clubs were on Zoom, two were in neighborhood homes, one was in a church, and the final one was at a community center. No clubs were held in schools.

But when restrictions lifted, our volunteers were ready to go into the schools and reach the children once again! We just ended the 2021-2022 school year, and I am pleased to report that there were 273 children enrolled in 13 clubs, and 93 professions of faith were made!

One was a Zoom club, two were held in churches, but the remaining ten were all in schools. Five of those ten schools were in locations we had never been in before. In addition to the GNCs, we held two Party Clubs at the Gospel Mission in Turlock. Twenty children attended and six received Christ.

The groundwork is now being laid for, God willing, six new Good News Clubs to start in five brand new locations. Churches have been talked to, trainings have been scheduled, and, in some cases, school districts and principals have already been approached. We are excited to see what God is going to do moving forward.

And now we turn our attention to summer. Last summer we had five 5-Day Clubs, but this summer we are eyeing at least ten, and hopefully more.

We have noticed that the children who are coming to clubs are hungry for fellowship and are responding to the Gospel more readily than before. The pendulum is swinging again in the right direction. Pray that it will continue!

Outreach Events

The two main ministries of CEF are the Good News Club and the 5-Day Club. Good News Clubs run from September through May, and meet weekly in neighborhood homes, churches, or schools. We just wrapped those up. 5-Day Clubs meet for one week in the summer, and we are gearing up to hold those in parks and front/back yards across the area.

But then we also have one-time outreach events. We go into a community, pop up a shade tent, and make Good News bracelets (basically the Wordless Book in bracelet form) while sharing the Gospel. These are efforts to quickly get the Gospel out to children in unreached areas.

Last month Nadya and I were invited to do one of these events in the small town of La Grange. Dino and Karen Fuente opened their front yard for their own outreach to the community and we were a part of it. Twelve children heard the Gospel that day, and while no children received Christ, the Gospel was clearly shared with each.

Would you be interested in a one-time event to happen in your community? Give us a call or email and we can talk about the best way to help make that a reality. The kids in your community are important to God!

Praise & Prayer

Praise God for the successful Spring Fundraiser. More than $17,356 was raised!

Praise God for the 13 Good News Clubs this past school year, the 267 children reached, and the 93 who received Christ!

Pray for Good News Club leads that I currently have in Valley Springs, Le Grand, Stockton, Denair, Merced, and Modesto.

Pray for 2-3 more committee members to come on to the committee in 2022.

Praise God that schools opened back up this school year. Pray now for God's favor for the 2022-2023 school year.

Pray for the various trainings that will be happening this summer. At least four have been scheduled, three of which will take place in churches.

Praise God that we were able to hold a one-time outreach in La Grange. God loves kids in small towns as well as in big cities. Pray for more opportunities to hold these outreach events throughout our area.

Pray for the summer finances. Summer is a busy time with lots of vacations, so Pray that money will be sufficient to cover all our needs.