Stories From The Classrooms
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!!
Tim Tebow & the 4/14 Window
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.
151 Kids & 27 Professions of Faith!
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
5 Reasons CEF is Unique
- No one else is doing what we do! We are reaching unchurched kids AND their families for Christ – kids and families that churches would never reach because we are going into public schools.
- We are disciplining kids – teaching character and morals WITH a biblical background. We give reasons why we should do the things we do – because God, our creator, has told us to do it!
- We are building relationships with the kids and their families which is why Santa Barbara parents voted us the Best After School Program in our community.
- We teach and train our workers constantly helping them improve their teaching skills, few other volunteer organizations do that.
- Our volunteers teachers and leaders love what they do! More than half of our volunteers (we have more than 60) have been serving with CEF of Santa Barbara for 6+ years.
Christmas Parties at Good News Clubs
Christmas time is a great opportunity to share the Gospel with even more kids at the Clubs. At CEF we take full advantage of this season by hosting Christmas Party Clubs. With special games, snacks and of course the Nativity story we are able to reach out to all those kids who are wondering what Christmas is all about. MORE… It probably goes without saying, but Christmas is kind of a big deal with our Good News Clubs. It’s often the highlight of the whole year and so we tend to go a bit overboard. This year will be no different. To help add to the fun, because besides telling the Christmas story at all of the clubs, we do like to do something a little wild and crazy! Recently many of the clubs have received scooters and parachutes to help add more playtime excitement. They have made a huge impact with the kids who clamor for more and more game time. Have no fears, however, if you think that game time is taking away from the gospel message as the leaders have learned to incorporate that as well into their play!
2010-2011 Good News Club Updates
The 2011-12 Good News Club year began much as it ended 2010-11 -10 Elementary School Clubs including Adams, Brandon, Canalino, El Camino, Ellwood, Foothill, Harding, Hollister, Kellogg and Vieja Valley once again have a Good News Club presence on campus.
As wonderful as that is, we will not rest until every school in south Santa Barbara County has had a Good News Club bringing the gospel to kids and their families.
Early next year, we hope to open up another club in the Carpinteria area, as well another club in Goleta and perhaps in Montecito or Summerland. We also want to expand our preschool program by offering clubs to independent centers in Santa Barbara.
More help however is needed! We need to fill someone existing holes in staffing at the Brandon and Canalino sites - another club leader is needed at both these locations. Club Directors, who will oversee the program at new locations is also a must before we can see clubs added.
Pray about how God can use you to spread the “Good News”! Do you have an afternoon each week available for kids in your community? Do you know someone who does?
(Click Here to find out what it takes to be a volunteer)
CEF Connects with the Local Community to Get our Message Out To Kids
CEFSB has had great success both promoting the gospel and Good News Clubs at recent community events. In October, we were invited to be a sponsor for the Santa Barbara Christian School Youth Races, an event that included the entire Santa Barbara community.
We set up a booth with the intention of presenting the gospel message through the wordless book bracelet. Kids came up to intrigued to know what the colors of this beaded bracelet represented.
By the end of the day, almost all the participants, over 85 children had heard the message of salvation and had received an invitation to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. They also received a flier detailing the 10 Good News Clubs offered in town.
This same activity was repeated a couple of weeks later at the Learning Den Preschool Harvest Festival and at Calvary Chapel’s Light the Night Halloween event.
With all three venues combined, it resulted in over 200 presentations/invitations to both children and their parents.
Quite a success!
Next up, the ParentClick.com Children’s Expo at La Cumbre Plaza, Saturday, March 3, 2012.
Annual Cake Auction is a Sweet Success
The cakes were yummy indeed! And the food and fellowship was equally enticing! On Thursday, October 13 over 85 people attended the 8th Annual CEF Benefit for Children at the Reagan Ranch Center near downtown Santa Barbara. Besides the Cake Auction for which CEF has become famous, this year guests had the opportunity to bid and win vacation destinations, golf packages, unique dining opportunities and more!
The chair of this year’s event was once again Sandee Beckers, who along with her committee, Marcia Tremblay, Barbara Kloos, Dianne Davis, Kielle Horton, Cyndy Duerner, Barbara Biehl, Katie Clause, Diane Lundberg, Linda Havlik and Monica Vandeventer, did an amazing job of not only providing a great time for all who attended, but also helped CEF raise the needed financial support to see that our clubs have all they need for this club year!
Scott DuPar and Nathan Wagner, pastors from Calvary Chapel, kept the crowd entertained during the live auction portion of the night’s activities. The cakes were once again served by lovely young women, directed by Lauren Ishimaru, from our own Good News Clubs and Calvary Baptist Church, which helped keep the mood merry and bright! Calvary Baptist men, led by Mike Munden, youth pastor, whipped up beverages for coffee addicts in attendance. Santa Barbara Bank and Trust provided the necessary help to process all the donations coming in the last half hour. A huge thank you also goes out to the Young America’s Foundation, who once again donated the use of the Reagan Ranch Center for the event. Finally, thank you to all who attended the event and made it the blessing that it was to CEF of Santa Barbara.
