North Valley News

Ministry Newsletter of Joel Cripe,

Child Evangelism Fellowship

July 2022

Pamela Hawkins teaching at the GNC in Groveland where Joshua learned about Jesus.

Wondering if it Sticks

If you are a teacher of children in any setting, you have probably wondered if some of your students are absorbing anything that you are trying to teach them. There are always some who are more active and challenging than others, and sometimes all you can do is smile and offer up a prayer that something stuck with them.

During the fall of 2019, a local partnering church began a Good News Club^® at their local elementary school. Five children showed up that school year. The club resumed for a few weeks in January of 2021 before Covid shut it down. The team was faithful to present the Gospel each week, and even though they were mildly discouraged that more children didn’t attend.

Joshua was one of the children who attended the club from the very beginning, and he was one of those kids that, by all appearances, didn’t

appear to be gaining anything from what was taught. He wasn’t being bad, just a handful, but still, it was a little disconcerting to the teaching team.

Fast forward to just a few weeks ago when Joshua showed up at their church with his mom on a Sunday morning. Because it is a small church, they get praise reports and prayer requests from the congregants right there in the morning service and Joshua’s hand shot up indicating he wanted to participate. When it was his turn he told everyone gathered that he wanted to “praise God because Jesus died on the cross for our sins so that we could be forgiven.”

Wow! Since he comes from a non-Christian home, much of his praise report he learned at Good News Club. This little boy who didn’t appear to be listening had grasped the basic teaching of the Gospel message, which will hopefully now lead him to a saving knowledge of Christ.

Gloria Paredes teaches at 5-Day Club.

Passing the Baton

Twenty years ago Holly Brovont attended a 5-Day Club^® established by Bruce and Florence Hunnicutt at their home in the Wood Colony area near Modesto. She remembers the Bible lessons, memory verses, and missionary stories, as well as the snacks and play time afterwards. God used that club to work in her life.

Less than ten years ago, after the heavenly homegoing of both Bruce and Florence, Dwight and Marlene Hunnicutt (who had moved into the Wood Colony home) continued the tradition, and the club was still a light in the community. It was a blessing to see the baton pass from the parents to their children.

Dwight and Marlene recently moved to Washington state and sold the house to their neighbors. The neighbors’ daughter, Holly Brovont (now in her thirties), and her husband are living on the same ranch where she first attended 5-Day Club as a child.

And it gets better! Holly wants to continue the tradition of the 5-Day Club at the ranch, and so she is planning, God willing, to host it each year so that kids will continue to hear about Jesus. Only God, in His sovereignty, can orchestrate a story like that. That is passing the baton!

The "Hunnicutt" 5-Day Club team.

Praise & Prayer

- Praise God for the 5-Day Clubs and one-day out reaches that are taking place or will take place across our area.

- Pray for the 5-Day Clubs to take place in both the Modesto and Turlock Gospel Missions.

- Praise God that God has led someone to take over the annual “Hunnicutt” 5-Day Club in Modesto. God is so good to raise up those we reach to carry on His work.

- Praise God again for a great Spring fundraising drive. Pray now that God will sustain and even expand our ministry during the summer months.

- Praise God for an interested person in joining our committee! Pray for them as they read the material and prayerfully make their decision.

- Pray that God will supply us with a full-time field worker to be hired in 2023.

- Pray for Good News Club opportunities in Le Grand, Stockton, Modesto, Turlock, and Valley Springs to materialize for the 2022-2023 school year.

- Pray that churches will grab onto the GNC^® travel team idea.

Mary & Marlene at 5-Day Club.

Travel Teams

Last summer, when we found out that the Stan Union School District was opening up again for after-school groups, we made plans to launch the Good News Club program once again. We had a traditional long-term club (September to May) already established at Chrysler Elementary, and another one just starting up at Eisenhut, but there were no clubs yet in the other three schools in the District.

That’s when Calvary Chapel Modesto stepped up and volunteered to put together a GNC team who would go to each of those three schools and teach shorter clubs. They started in January and taught five weeks at Mary Lou Dieterich, five weeks at Agnes Baptist, and were prepared to teach five weeks at Stanislaus Elementary, but that club did not materialize.

What if we had five churches who would follow the same model but begin in September instead of January. They could take five weeks of material and teach the same material at five different schools. That would be 25 clubs taught! The reach in a school district would be tremendous!

Would your church consider putting together a travel team? We’d love to inspire, train, equip, and support you do so! Call for more information.

GIFT OF STOCK

About half of all Americans invest in the stock market, but only a small fraction ever consider making gifts of appreciated stock to their favorite ministries.

When giving appreciated assets, such as public stock, you not only receive a tax deduction for the fair market value of the stock, but you also avoid capital gains tax.

This can be much better plan of stewardship than giving cash.

Maximize your giving through the CEF partnership with the Barnabas Foundation for stock gifts. No commission is taken from the gift to reach more children with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

For more information on how to best give a gift of stock to CEF, click HERE. Simply fill out your contact information, choose "donation information" from the drop down menu, and type "gift of stock" in the "Other" box. We will get back to you promptly with the next steps to take.

You can also email Joel Cripe at joel.cripe@cefnorcal.org, or call our office

(209) 250-2561.

July Supply!

The State Board for CEF Norcal, Inc (of which we are an arm) is desiring to help raise funds for teaching materials that will be used in the upcoming Good News Club ministry year across the state. We are appreciative and supportive of this effort and would encourage you click on the picture above to donate.

If you choose to participate, be sure to choose "Central Valley North" in the drop-down menu at the top of the state office landing page to ensure that your donation gets credited to our local chapter. Thank you!