Our First Jr. High Club Almost a Reality

Posted by on February 24, 2012 · Leave a Comment 

We have been working diligently on getting a club at Goleta Valley Jr. High for almost a year now. This move is motivated by our board chair, Rod Walters, who has a heart to reach kids at this important age.

We have had some success already, hosting a lunch club in which 30 kids attended. There is a strong small group of christian students who have promised to help support and promote the club as soon as we are granted permission.

This club would open doors for us to reach many more kids and help those who are really seeking.

Please pray for the junior high club at Goleta Valley JH.  Pray that the district would respond to our permit application.  That students will support it as they have promised. For the leaders, Jon Bancroft and Michael Ishimaru.

If you like Rod, have a heart for these kids contact us to see how you can be a part of this awesome ministry!

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CEFSB at Kids Expo at La Cumbre Plaza March 3rd

Posted by on February 24, 2012 · Leave a Comment 

Volunteers are needed for the Annual Kids Expo at La Cumbre Plaza – Saturday, March 3!

CEF of Santa Barbara will have a booth at the Expo for the first time!  We will be promoting Good News Clubs AND giving kids the opportunity to make Wordless Book (Gospel) bracelets and receive an invitation to invite Jesus Christ into their life.

We need you to help us do that!  We are looking for volunteers to help for approximately an hour any time from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

There will be an Orientation Training to help you learn more about what you will be doing at the Expo booth - Thursday, March 1 either from 10:00 to 11:15 a.m. or 6:45 to 8:00 p.m. at the Salvation Army near the corner of Turnpike and Hollister, in their Fireside Room.

If you or someone you know is interested in helping with this great outreach opportunity, please contact me either through this email or by calling one of my numbers below.

Also, please let me know what time you would be available to serve!

 

Colleen Ishimaru

(805) 845-3188 office

(805) 450-3201 cell

 

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The Truth About CEF

Posted by on February 24, 2012 · Leave a Comment 

CEF and the Good News Clubs are wildly successful and whenever there is progress there are those who would seek to tear us down.
Many detractors use false information to discredit our ministry.
We want to arm you with the truth so you won’t be discouraged or dissuaded from patterning with us in this important ministry.
  1. We have a constitutional right to meet at public schools. This was upheld by the Supreme Court and many other lower courts.
  2.  No child is allowed to attend a Good News Club without the current written permission of their parents. In no case is a child attending a Good News Club without their parents knowing. (Detractors commonly say that kids are attending without their parents knowing. This is not true.)
  3.  No teachers or administrators are used to recruit new students. New students are only invited by their peers.
  4.   All teachers, helpers and workers submit themselves to a background check.
  5. All our teachers are required to complete at least 4 hours of training and participate in ongoing training.
  6. We adhere to all the standard child protection rules and best practices to ensure that all our kids are a part of a safe and welcoming environment.
  7. Parents are allowed, and welcome, to attend any GNC that their children attend.
If you have any questions regarding CEF policies or have heard any friends or family that have brought up concerns about our programs please leave a comment below so we can address them.

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Good News Club Updates

Posted by on February 24, 2012 · Leave a Comment 

A brief update on some of the news happening at our local Good News Clubs:

We have had twenty-one new children began attending Good News Clubs during January! This is 21 more lives touched, 21 more families impacted and who knows how many these 21 eventually reach.
The kids who attend Good News Clubs have been learning much in the past few weeks – first, about the troubled life of King David, who was a man after God’s heart, and now they have jumped more than 1000 years through time to the events of the first Christian church with lessons on the book of Acts.
In February, a monthly club began at St. Vincent’s and will continue through the year on various Saturday mornings.
Plans are also in the works for our first ever junior high club at Goleta Valley Junior High.
Sad news, however, when on January 21, longtime GNC teacher, Steve Hamlin went home to be with the Lord.  Steve had just taught the day before at the Adams School GNC where the leaders and kids that “Steve was on fire for the Lord”.  We will miss you, Steve!

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New Good News Club-Aliso Elementary School

Posted by on February 24, 2012 · Leave a Comment 

Starting Friday, March 2, the Good News Club list of schools has expanded to include Aliso Elementary School in Carpinteria.
Good News Club leaders, Wayne and Linda Olson, who also lead the club at Canalino School will be joined by Judy Cooper to provide the same fun, faith based club for kids on the west side of Carpinteria.
The club will meet every Friday school is in session from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m. in room 8.
Games, songs, Bible memory challenges and of course, important lessons from the Bible will be included every week.
Click here to download a copy of our flier and parent permission form.  En Espanol.

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Stories From The Classrooms

Posted by on January 17, 2012 · Leave a Comment 

We wanted to share with you just a small nugget of what we get to experience every week.

From one of our teachers:

I wanted to let you know that yesterday 2 of our preschoolers (age 4) accepted Jesus as their Savior!! It was so sweet. They prayed by themselves asking God to forgive them of their sins, saying they were sorry, thanking Jesus for dying and rising from the dead for them. We gave their parents (1 totally unchurched. The other catholic) the How to Lead a child to Christ sheet, along with a note explaining what their child did. Please pray specifically for the family who is unchurched, as they left the note in their box ( intentionally or unintentionally, we don’t know.) Their daughter has such a desire to know more about the Lord.
Please pray that God would use these children to bring their families to Jesus!!

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Tim Tebow & the 4/14 Window

Posted by on January 9, 2012 · Leave a Comment 

Tim Tebow’s moral and spiritual foundation were developed long before he became a celebrated quarterback with the Florida Gators in college, and the NFL’s Denver Broncos.

His story begins with an introduction to faith during childhood.  ”When I was a boy, I had been going to church, and I (had) been hearing about Jesus and how He died on the cross for my sins,” Tebow shared with an audience at the University of Florida in 2009, “but I had never put my trust in Him, I didn’t know what that meant,” Tebow continued.
“I had been…talking to my mom and dad and I wanted to trust Christ with my life.  And I was thinking, ‘you know, if I get in a car wreck (tomorrow)…and I die, I don’t think I’m going to heaven,” Tebow acknowledged in a 2010 interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network.  ”And I was scared,” Tebow told CBN. “And so the next morning I woke up, and I grabbed my mom, and I (kneeled by) the couch and I said, ‘Mom, I want to ask Jesus to come into my heart, and forgive me of my sins, and make me a child of God,‘ Tebow recalled of his conversion to Christ in 1993.  ”And from that instant, I knew I went from darkness to Light.”
Tim Tebow accepted Christ at the age of 6, according to his new book, “Through My Eyes.”  Tebow’s understanding of the gospel, and his desire to receive Jesus as his Savior and Lord at such a young age, further supports research released one year earlier.  In 1992, Dr. Bryant Myers, then Director of World Vision’s MARC Ministries, (now with Fuller Theological Seminary), presented his research which showed that 85% of people in the United States who make a decision for Christ, do so between the ages of 4 to 14.  That new evidence confirmed that children and teens under age 15 were receptive to the gospel and “ripe for harvest.”
Based on Dr. Myers’ research, Dr. Dan Brewster, a missiologist and then Program Director with Compassion International, coined the phrase ”4/14 Window” in 1995.  The 4/14 Window refers to all children between the ages of 4 to 14.  During this decade or “window,” most children in this demographic develop their moral and spiritual foundations, researchers have discovered.
Tim Tebow’s childhood faith supports the 4/14 Window.  There are 2.3 billion children on earth under age 15 and they represent the largest unreached people group in the world.
As 2012 begins, how will Christians respond to the boys and girls within our reach who need Christ?
CEF of Santa Barbara is reaching children every day who need the salvation Jesus Christ can give them through Good News Clubs and other outreach efforts.  You have made that possible through your efforts!  The last week of Good News Clubs before the Christmas holidays, we had 17 new children attend one of our 10 elementary school clubs and 5 new decisions for Christ!  Help us reach even more!

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151 Kids & 27 Professions of Faith!

Posted by on December 28, 2011 · Leave a Comment 

I want to thank you for your support of Child Evangelism Fellowship.  I can’t tell you how excited I am to be a part of this truly life-changing organization.  My wife Nancy and I have been involved with CEF this past year.  We continue to pour our hearts into this organization because we continue to see fantastic results.

I got involved with CEF because I see the government becoming more and more hostile towards Christianity in our public schools. CEF is way for Christians to reach out to kids who face the front lines of this battle every day. When things are tough at home, school, or with friends these kids can know they always have a friend in Jesus, and a safe place they can go after school to build strength in our Lord.

We continue to see new kids at Good News Clubs each week. In the few months since school started we have already seen 151 kids attending Good News Clubs in Santa Barbara County! These are kids that may not ever have an opportunity to go to a church, to go to a VBS program, or attend a Christian camp. We have an amazing opportunity because we are in the public schools to reach those kids who desperately need Jesus!  That’s awesome!

I’m even more excited because we have already had  27 professions of faith in Jesus! That’s 27 changed lives and have these kids up for a lifetime of walking with the Lord ahead.

 

In Proverbs it says that we should raise a child up in the ways of the Lord and that when he (or she) is old, he (or she!) won’t depart from it. We have also seen many kids that make professions of faith then go home and because of their faith their parents come to faith, start going to church, and then a whole family is saved!

That’s why I’m asking you to join Nancy and me in being a part of this life-changing ministry.  As 2011 comes to a close, I hope you’ll consider a special, year-end gift to Child Evangelism Fellowship.  CEF is a 501(c)3 organization and all gifts are tax-deductible.  You can give online with any major credit card or by mailing your contribution to PO Box 30826, Santa Barbara, CA 93130 CEF even accepts gifts of appreciated stock.  For more information about this, contact Colleen Ishmuaru, our Executive Director, by calling (805) 845-3188.

You can sign up to sponsor a child at one of our Good News Clubs by clicking here.  A sponsorship is just $8.33 a month or a one-time donation of $100.

Your gift will help us reach many more this school year.

To learn more visit www.CEFSantaBarbara.org

Sincerely,

Kevin O’Connor
Vice Chairman of the Board
Child Evangelism Fellowship

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Contact CEF Santa Barbara

Child Evangelism Fellowship
of Santa Barbara:

PO Box 30826
Santa Barbara, CA 93130

(805) 845-3188

colleen@cefsantabarbara.org

CEF Santa Barbara is a 501(c)3 non profit organization.  All contributions are fully tax deductible as allowed by state and federal law. You can donate by check, any major credit or donate shares of stock.  Contact CEF for more information.
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