Summer ’24 News and Prayer Letter

In this letter, you will read about our year-end school Good News Club statistics, updates from May’s Chicken Barbeque Fundraiser and June’s Appreciation Dinner, and information on coming events.

Prayer requests are listed throughout, and at the end.

Thank you for your support, CEF of GBA

Buffalo Public Schools:

Highgate Heights Elementary School (PS #80). It met every Monday.
This club was coordinated by Megan Kester, and she was assisted by Mary Scherrer. It was sponsored by The Chapel at Crosspoint. This school year they had 14 students attend, and 3 trusted Christ as Savior.

Eden School District:

One club available for the students of both Eden Elementary (grades 2-5) and Grover L Priess Primary School (grades K-2). It met every Tuesday.

This club was coordinated by Jen Keller from Old Time Baptist Church. She was assisted by Jessica Guadagno (also from Old Time), Sam and Victoria Hazlett (Faith Bible Baptist), Pastor Chris Baran (Faith Bible Baptist), and Pastor Rob Perrotti (Center Road Baptist).

This club was finally able to restart after Covid! They had 2 children “officially” registered, but 10 came throughout the year. Two of these trusted in Christ as their Savior.

Lake Shore Central School District:

The AJ Schmidt Elementary School Club met every Thursday. It was coordinated by Amanda Smith. She was assisted by her daughers Ceili and Chloe, Dave Wrazien, and Judy Driscoll. It was sponsored by the Hilltop Baptist Church.

They had 7 students registered, but one never attended. Of the 6 that did attend, five of them trusted in Jesus this school year.

The Highland Elementary School Club met every Tuesday. It was also coordinated by Amanda Smith. She was again assisted by Ceili, Chloe, and Dave Wrazien, and Kristen Freeman also taught at this club. It was also sponsored by the Hilltop Baptist Church.

They had 12 students registered, and 5 were saved this school year.

The JT Waugh Elementary School Club met every Tuesday. It was coordinated by Rebekah Tablante. Eva Buckland was the main teacher, and they were assisted by Hope Thompson, Calvin Tablante, and Analise Uptegrove. It was sponsored by Faith Bible Baptist Church.

They had 12 students, and 3 were saved this year.

Frontier Central School District:

The Blasdell Elementary Club was open every Thursday. It was coordinated by Julie White, and her husband Charles and friend Darlene were trained and available to help. It was sponsored by Blasdell Church of Christ.

This club did not have any students registered. However, the library has been allocated for our use every Thursday afternoon, so Julie has faithfully gone and prayed in that room. She has built relationships with custodians and other school staff.

The Cloverbank Elementary School Club was also open to any students who attended Big Tree Elementary School. They met every Tuesday. It was coordinated by Jen Keller. The team included her, Beth Wainwright and Jon Bitner. It was sponsored by Old Time Baptist Church.

They had 10 students attend, and 3 put their faith in Christ during the club.

65 children attended GNCs this school year.

21 of these put their faith in Jesus for salvation!

Please rejoice with us!

Pray for these precious children to grow closer to the Lord over the summer. Pray for those who got saved to be able to grow in their new faith. Pray for our teachers to be excited for the next school year.

A first-grader in one of our schools, explaining last week’s lesson to a student who had been absent: “Joseph’s brothers hated him so much that they sold him to a well. Not all of his brothers, though. His youngest brother Peter didn’t do anything wrong.”

After our Good News Clubs ended for the year, we invited our GNC teachers, donors, and church partners to a dinner in their honor. This was our first attempt at this sort of event, but we were happy that about 40 people came out. Our chapter chairman, our ministry coordinator, and our treasurer (who also works for a local school district) each took a turn showing appreciation to our church partners, encouraging our teachers, and thanking our donors.

A delicious meal was served, followed by dessert and a time of open testimony. Many of the GNC teachers told stories of children trusting in Christ as Savior, then giving evidence of that salvation. Some highlights of testimony time included….

–  A little boy wanted so badly to share Jesus with someone that he got permission from the GNC teacher to immediately give a gospel tract to the school custodian.

– A parent thanked a GNC teacher for the influence they had in her son’s life nearly a decade ago, crediting the club with many of her son’s good decisions in college.

– The son of one of our teachers (who also attends club) is known in his school for letting his little light shine for Jesus.

– A girl from an unchurched home begged her parents to allow her to attend club a second year, saying “I need to know more about God!”

– A pastor allowed his church members to start clubs in their local schools, though he knew he personally would not be able to be involved, and the children that have been saved because of it.

– A sister who trusted Christ one week at club, and her little brother who came forward for counsel a few weeks later, and also trusted in Christ.

Praise the Lord for what He has done through us in our local public schools. Pray for more schools to open to us next year, and churches to partner with us.

We are pleased to report the success of our first fundraiser of 2024 – a Wendels chicken barbecue held at the West Falls Bible Church. A steady stream of vehicles came through the church parking lot, starting even before we opened at noon. We sold out by 4:00pm, and netted a strong profit.

Thank you to all who attended and supported this effort. If you are in the area, please plan to support our next fundraiser:

 

Chiavetta’s Chicken BBQ

Friday, September 13, 3:00pm – Sold Out

Old Time Baptist Church, 5599 Camp Rd (Route 75) in Hamburg

Please pray for the financial stability of our chapter.

Of course, you don’t have to attend a fundraiser to support CEF of Greater Buffalo! Your help is needed and appreciated any day of the year.

Lord willing, we will have eight 5-Day Clubs in Buffalo and around Erie County this year! These will take place in public parks, in people’s backyards, on church properties, and hopefully even in homeless shelters. We pray that our next letter will be full of stories of how God did amazing things in our neighborhoods this summer.

Please pray for those coordinating 5-Day Clubs to have wisdom in planning. Pray for many children to come, and many souls to be saved.

A training seminar for anyone interested in teaching at a Good News Club will be held on Saturday, August 17, at the Center Road Baptist Church, 412 Center Rd, West Seneca NY. More information will be forthcoming. Please contact us if you are interested.

A few months ago we hired a “Ministry Coordinator” to oversee our gospel-sharing efforts in Western NY. He is already doing a tremendous job reaching out to local schools and churches, and evangelizing children. (We hope to soon start sending monthly updates from him, along with these quarterly newsletters.)

With added staff comes added financial responsibility. We are praying for 25 individuals that will pledge $50 per month, and 10 churches or businesses that will pledge $100 per month to our chapter. Donors may choose to give to our chapter, or directly to our coordinator.

A Note to our Current Supporters: We have recently switched to a different giving platform that will handle financial donations. If you have set up “recurring donations” with us before, you will need to reenter your information into our new system. This should take just a few minutes. We apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you for your faithfulness and generosity. We could not do what we do if not for you.