From Drew Burton at Gateway Baptist Church:
"I am very excited about what God is doing in the lives of our students. Several people in our congregation have been faithfully praying for our students over the last five years. I believe we are currently seeing God answer many of these prayers.
One of the things I am most excited about is how our students are coming alive by serving others. I am a firm believer that the “lab experience” of fleshing out our walk with Christ teaches us things that we can never learn in the classroom about God’s character and our relationship with him. I am seeing our students serve as a catalyst in our church for stepping into community ministry, something that we have been praying would happen for many years.
Starting Sunday, Sept. 7th, we will begin hosting the Bell Road Kid’s Club at Gateway. This will happen every Sunday from 4:30-6:00 pm as a ministry for students in the four neighborhoods surrounding our church. We will have games, crafts, snacks, stories, etc. each week for the kids. Our students will meet at 4:00 for prayer and training before the neighborhood kids arrive. We are preparing for two tracks (older kids and younger kids) as we are inviting k-12 grades to join us.
Our students are ready to lead out in this ministry and we have been preparing for the first Club meeting by passing out flyers in the neighborhood, forming teams for each area of responsibility and asking God to guide us in this effort. There are five groups in our church in addition to the youth group that have expressed interest in partnering with us in this effort so we will be coordinating with them as we proceed. Anyone else that is interested in assisting in anyway with this ministry, please contact me.
This is a very fluid thing. We don’t know how God will grow it, change it, shape it, mold it, redirect it . . . we simply don’t have all the answers but we are stepping out by faith into what we believe he is putting in front of us. We will trust him for the results."
“The Gateway Baptist Kids Club has been a great opportunity to interact with youth and children from the surrounding neighborhoods. At the club we play games, have snacks, and try to get to know each other better. Every week Drew gives a Bible lesson for the older kids, and one of the youth girls gives a Bible lesson for the younger kids. I have had a great time assisting with this, and I have also made some friends. I am seeing God work through this club, in fact there were FOUR guys who accepted Christ during the club last week!! I praise God for the work He has done and I am praying that He will continue to work through this ministry.” Dorothy Morris
“I decided to get involved with the kids club because I wanted to start investing in the lives of the youth. I was very excited to get to spend time with them as well as get to know some new kids that come in from the neighborhood. The kids, mostly aged from 8-18, are all good-natured children with a lot they seem to look forward to in life. However, I can see how some of them have very little direction. The kids club is something they see as a safe, laid back place they can come and enjoy the company of their friends as well as have a good time with different activities. We’re working on developing relationships with them, and hopefully opening opportunities to share Christ’s love with them. These kids are all so full of life and ready to develop, but in many cases they are so distracted by their everyday lives that they don’t seem to truly realize their need. They need truth and direction from the One who has the plan for their lives. I hope to continue to earn their trust and have opportunities to share with them the love of Christ that we all so desperately need.” Rebecca Thomas
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