North Valley News

Ministry Newsletter of Joel Cripe,

Child Evangelism Fellowship(R)

May 2022

Knowing Why She Was Smiling

Nadya, Veronica, and I pray for the ministry regularly at the office. We pray about personal things related to each of our lives, for needed funds for continued ministry, for the needs of our volunteers, and for the Good News Clubs^® taking place that week.

Veronica helps at the Eisenhut Good News Club in Modesto on Thursday afternoons, and so on a Thursday last month we said a prayer that the children attending the club that day would clearly hear the Gospel and respond in faith to receive Christ as their Savior from sin.

It is Veronica’s regular practice to pray for the children in the club during the club time, silently offering a short request for each child. Just before the club started on this particular day, one of the teachers from the school wheeled in a young girl whose parent(s) had just signed her up. Veronica remembered the

prayer that the three of us had prayed earlier in the day (that children would come to know Jesus as their Savior that day) and couldn’t help but wonder if this girl would be the one to receive Christ.

Sometime near the end of the club, Veronica had to step out to take care of something. When she returned, club had ended and this little girl met her at the door with a huge smile on her face. “How many more days are there for the club? I want to keep coming!” Veronica made note of her enthusiasm but didn’t think much more of it.

It wasn’t until all the children had left, and the team was recapping the day and planning for the next week, that Marie Box, the Bible lesson teacher, told Veronica that the little girl had responded to the Bible lesson and received Christ. And then Veronica remembered our prayer again, and knew the reason why she was smiling.

ADDRESS CHANGE CLARIFICATION

Just a note that our new mailing address is 2925 Niagra St, Suite 6, Turlock, CA 95382. This is a change from our Modesto PO Box. You can be confident that your financial gifts are getting to the right place. We are simply switching our mailing address from the Modesto PO Box to our Turlock office address.

He Loves Each Child

In September of 2019 we began a new Good News Club at Shackelford Elementary school in Modesto. It was a very successful club that saw many kids reached, a handful of which received Christ. That club carried on until March 2020 when, as everyone knows, covid changed the world and shut the schools down.

But the teachers of that club never forgot about the children there, and when things began to open up again, I received a call from a lady who was interested in what it would take to re-start it once again. I told her, and last month the club resumed after a layoff of almost two years!

Many children signed up to come to the club, but at the first club “only” one little girl showed up. As God would have it, she received Christ as her Savior that day!

A lot of people would be discouraged by only one child showing up, but one of the teachers told me that “it shows how much God loves each child that He would arrange a club, knowing she would be the only one. Praying for more children to attend and hear of His great love for them.”

Will you join us in that prayer? We’ll update you next month.

Praise & Prayer

- Praise God for the three Good News Clubs that started last month (Brown (Turlock), Julien (Turlock), and Shackelford (Modesto). Pray for the club at Van Allen Elementary in Escalon that starts this month.

- Praise God for the children who are coming to know Christ at these “last minute” 5-week clubs!

- Pray for our upcoming Spring Fundraiser this month (May 8-14). Praise God for the 36 walkers signed up so far. Pray for many more to sign up in this final week, and pray for others who can't walk to join us with their finances.

- Pray for our upcoming summer ministry, and for the three young people who are considering coming to Christian Youth In Action^® training. Pray that God would direct each into the path He would have for them.

- Pray that Good News Club opportunities for the Fall would materialize over the summer. There are two opportunities in Stockton, one in Ceres, another in Los Banos, and possibly a fourth in Le Grand.

- Praise God for sending us a new committee member in Anita Ferrante, and pray for two more members to come on board soon.

- Praise God for the cross and the resurrection! Without those two events, we would have nothing to offer to the children and would be wasting our time.

- Pray for future staff to join us. It is my prayer to add four new staff members to help cover the area.

Underway

Our “Beautiful Feet” 5k Fundraiser will be taking place May 8-14, but one of the questions that I have gotten from people is whether they can do their walk/run at another time. The answer is yes! Veronica Lopez (pictured above) did her 5k in early April. She did her walk at Golden Gate Park and sent me the picture you see above.

So, if you can’t be involved the week of May 8, but still want to be involved, sign up anyway and just let us know when you will be walking. Nadya and I will be doing our 5k somewhere in the mountains and will probably go farther than 5k. I know of others who will be doing just the 5k on their treadmill. Veronica did hers in San Francisco and she lives in Modesto. You get the idea.

And then there are the non-walker participants. We have received a couple of gifts from people who can’t walk but still want to be involved. If you fall into that category, we still welcome your participation.

So, how can you get involved? Go to cefnorcal.org/centralvalleynorth and scroll down until you see the 5k picture. Click on that and it should be clear. Or call or email and we will guide you the process. Thanks so much in advance for your participation!

Click the picture below, or scan the QR code, to sign up for the

Spring Fundraiser!

AND THEN THERE IS THE MONSTER 40K CHALLENGE!

I (Joel) am also doing my own 5k, one for each county in our area (8).That means I will be

doing a monster 40k hike. Last year Nadya and I did a hike in each county, but this year I will do a 5k for each county; one 25-mile hike to raise money for the ministry of CEF! Maybe you can't do your own 5k, but would like to sponsor me on my 40k.

Just go to the registration page by clicking on the button below and skip directly to the “additional giving” section if you want to participate in this way. You can also mail your gift in to the office. Any way you choose to participate will help ensure that the ministry to the boys and girls of the Central Valley North Area will continue to be reached. Thank you!

5k Fundraiser Registration Page