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Summer 2022 News and Prayer Letter

Dear Friends and Supporters,

We have had some big changes over the past quarter, and we thank you for your faithful prayers and financial support. Keep reading for updates on our May Brunch, the “Go and Tell” Program, local Good News Clubs, and Brian Ide!

Sincerely, CEF of GBA

“Good News” Brunch

On May 14 we held an informational brunch for pastors, children’s minsters, or anyone interested in knowing more about Child Evangelism Fellowship. We hosted 35 people, representing 11 area churches.
After informal conversation around the breakfast tables, our committee presented the different aspects of CEF of GBA: Good News Clubs, Summer 5-Day Clubs, and Teacher Training. These are all ways that we can help churches expand their reach in their communities.

Dale Hudson, founder of Building Children’s Ministry, was our guest speaker for the day, and gave a challenging lesson on leaving a legacy to the next generation. He reminded us, “An inheritance is what you leave for someone; A legacy is what you leave in someone.”

Results: We were so pleased with the positive response we had from those who attended our Brunch. Some of these churches have already requested Teacher Training, which is the first step to starting a Good News Club in their schools. Fifteen of those in attendance signed up to join our prayer team. We look forward to working with the, and seeing the doors that open.

Year-End GNC Report

Our school ministry has come to an end, and we praise the Lord for what He did for us this year. After being almost completely shut down last year, we rebuilt to four in-person clubs and two online.
Some of our Clubs were able to meet in-person, inside of the schools, and right after school let out. Most of our Clubs, however, had to meet off-site, meet remotely, or find a time well past the dismissal. We are so grateful for the flexibility of our teachers and school workers as they navigated these challenges. In spite of these hurdles, we saw salvations and growth in the students.
Two of our clubs had parties at the end of the school year, and many parents and grandparents attended, and told us how much these clubs have helped their children.

2021-22 Statistics:
6 Clubs offered (4 in-person, 2 online)
3 School districts served (Buffalo, Frontier, Lake Shore, and a few home schoolers thrown in for good measure)
28 Students registered
6 recorded salvations

Go and Tell

What’s new at CEF of Greater Buffalo? We have a Wonderful! Stupendous! Total –Immersion Evangelistic program just for Kids; “Go and Tell, Children Reaching Children” Go and Tell is a fun-filled day of teaching young people 10-18 yrs. old how to effectively give the gospel to their friends, family and those they meet. “Go and Tell” uses Bible truths of the Loving God, Creator (John 3:16), man the sinner (Romans 3:23), Jesus the Savior (I Corinthians 15:3b-4) forgiveness/salvation (Acts 16:31) and Christian growth (2 Peter 3:18).
We use the Wordless Book colors to help focus on the truths of the gospel when witnessing. Some of our tools are: color-coded tabs for their New Testaments, CEF “Flipper Flapper” or “Turnabouts,” Wordless Books and “Gospel Wrist Bands.” We even provide a color-coded bookmark that contains the Gospel truths! And then, Repetition, Repetition, Repetition coupled with games, snacks, lunch and lots of laughter!!

Two teens from our first class were my helpers in our second class; immersion is a great tool. Some children from our last class went our “witnessing” after class. One boy was able to win a friend to the Lord. Another young lady was able to give the entire gospel to 3 of her friends. A young teen stated, ”Now I understand how to give the Gospel!” This is certainly “Children Reaching Children” in action!
For information how you can have this life-changing training for your church children, please contact us at the information listed below, or email tlklindsey@gmail.com

Summer Ministry

We are working with one church to get their teachers ready to begin a Good News Club in the fall.

A few pastors have shown interest in partnering with us, and invited us in to speak to their congregations. We look forward to serving them in the future with opening a GNC in their local school.

An area-wide, free Good News Club training 9:00am-3:30pm on Saturday, August 20, at Center Road Baptist Church of West Seneca. This is for any current teachers (refresher) or anyone interested in teaching a Good News Club. The training is free, but registration is required. Call or text 716-394-7820!

We are also overseeing a few 5-Day Clubs, which is like a mini-Vacation Bible School, usually held in someone’s backyard. Please keep us in your prayers this summer.

Chapter Change

Our director, Brian Ide, has left Western New York to start a new CEF chapter in Jacksonville, Florida. Brian was a huge help in starting the CEF of GBA chapter, and will be missed. The committee thanks Brian for his dedicated service to the children of the Greater Buffalo Area, and wishes him all the best in his new endeavor.

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Spring 2022 Newsletter: Good News Brunch

Happy Spring, friends and supporters! Thank you for your faithfulness in giving and praying for us.

In this quarterly newsletter, you will read about the pastoral visits made by some of our committee, our upcoming “Good News Brunch”, and updates on our public school  Good News Clubs. I’ve also written a short story that I hope you will be a blessing to you.

Thank you for your interest in CEF of Greater Buffalo.

Sincerely, Brian Ide, CEF of Greater Buffalo

Pastoral Visits

Two of our committee members have been visiting local gospel-preaching churches, to personally present CEF of GBA, and explain how we can serve them. Member Dennis P gives this report of their travels:

In January 2022, Jim Maloney and I, under the Lord’s guidance, began visiting churches in three counties in order to introduce the Pastors to the Mission of Child Evangelism Fellowship. I performed background checks on the churches prior to visiting them in order to ensure it was in obedience to Biblical standards. We then formulated a strategic plan to visit several specific churches in a day, using google maps and especially GPS, because Jim liked to listen to her voice. Since then, we have been blessed to visit close to seventy churches, either speaking to Pastors themselves, the church office staff, or simply leaving a packet of CEF information at the front door of the church.

A typical trip would begin with prayer for the Lord’s blessing of the ministry and travel mercies. We would visit three or four churches in the morning and about the same in the afternoon. Between the two we would stop for lunch and fellowship. On one occasion, Jim offered to buy me a “Happy Meal,” yet I never succumbed to such an experience. However, I did give in to a Beef on Weck. We dealt with a snow storm, putting Jim’s driving skills to the test and causing us to get stuck, and also backing up a one-way side street in the wrong direction.

Several times the Pastor of the church would invite us in, watch the CEF videos, converse with us, and desire a follow up with Brother Brian. This resulted in CEF making presentations to a number of churches, as well as scheduling ones yet to come.

The Lord was no doubt in control, including when GPS failed. One time we could not find the church and simply decided to drive a little farther just in case. And there was the church. When we introduced ourselves to the Pastor, he said he had read Brian’s letter a couple of weeks earlier, and was thrilled when we showed up, saying it was an “Answer to Prayer!” Obviously, it was. Since then several other churches have asked for follow up, or want to have a CEF event in the summer or fall. For myself, it has been a rewarding ministry and opportunity to get closer to Jesus, the “author and perfecter of our faith.” Jim and I continue to pray for the Lord to open doors in both churches and area public schools, in order that the “living and true Word” would be revealed, and many children and adults would ask Jesus to be their Savior and Lord. To this Jim and I say AMEN! God Bless.

– Dennis

Good News Brunch

On May 14 we are hosting an informational brunch for pastors, businesspeople, and anyone who wants to know more about us. We are honored to have Dale Hudson coming to speak to us. Dale is a 32-year veteran of children’s ministry and works closely with CEF. He will encourage and challenge all who attend. 

This Brunch will be held at the Center Road Baptist Church in West Seneca, and costs just $20 per person. If you or anyone you know would like to attend, please visit www.cefbuffalo.org.

If you would like to learn more about Dale Hudson, visit 

www. BuildingChildrensMinistry.com

Good News Clubs

Our Good News Clubs are in full swing! We have three still going from the beginning of the school year: Blasdell Elementary, Cloverbank/Big Tree Elementary Schools, and an online club servicing Lake Shore schools and anyone else who can’t attend an in-person club. These clubs are all small (10 students at the most), but God is blessing and the children are learning! The teachers are having a good time, too J

Our Buffalo School #80 club is scheduled to restart the first week of April, after much prayer and work. We are extremely grateful to teacher Megan K for her tenacity and devotion to her students. Most people in her position would have given up on having a club this year, and would have just waited till next year. We are excited to see what great things God does in the few months that remain.

We also have an outreach partnership with Urban Christian Ministries, with weekly clubs for the children who attend their after school program.

Further Praise – since our last newsletter, the mask mandates in our schools have lifted, as have many of the Covid restrictions.  This will help tremendously as we prepare for the next school year.

We have also talked to several churches about future partnerships in local school districts. Starting a Good News Club in a public school is not easy. The teachers and volunteers must be trained and have background checks. School administration must accept our request. Children must register and attend. But having a church show interest is the first step . Lord willing, next year will be our best yet!

I Am Billy

by Brian Ide

Let me tell you a story about a child named Billy who came to Good News Club. Each school year Billy would look forward to Good News Club. Each time we started Club, Billy would be there, jumping up and down, excited to come hear about Jesus again.

Although Billy loved Good News Club, he was a teacher’s “nightmare.” He was far from the most behaved child in Good News Club. Most of the time he was quite a handful. But I grew to like Billy. During club he would talk to me, and I enjoyed our conversations. I learned much about Billy through these moments. His father was in prison, and he didn’t know where his mother was. His uncle was now taking care of him.

One day while teaching I used water and mud to illustrate the sin problem. I started with a clean glass of water telling them about God and that He had no sin. But, when we sin like lie, steal, or hate others we dirty the water. I then added mud to the water. Then I asked, “Would anyone drink this water?” And there was Billy saying, “I will!”

All I could say was, “Billy, I knew you would say that.”

You see, I knew he would answer that because I’m Billy. Oh, I may not have come from a broken home, but I understand about dark times. I understand how hard it is to control your emotions. I understand how we can want something that is completely wrong for us. Unfortunately, this is a fallen world. Our lives aren’t all neat and organized. But God can put things back together. He can mend broken lives.

I wish I could tell you that Billy made a dramatic conversion, but sometimes growth is so small, we wonder if it’s happening at all. Here at CEF, we are not in this for the short term, we are in this for eternity. That’s what we are doing by teaching the Good News. We are changing lives eternally.

Thank you for your prayers and support to make this possible.

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She Has A New Father!

M came to Good News Club but no one came to pick her up. We finally reached someone to come get her after an hour and a half wait. We learned a lot about her life from this relative. Her Dad was in jail and Mom was going to court to see if she would be keeping her children. M has continued to attend club and you can hear her singing the Good News Club songs softly by herself. After a few weeks, M trusted Jesus to be her Savior. Now she has a heavenly Father to watch over her. She continues to attend club and to hear about her heavenly Father and His love for her!

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God Will Work It Out!

When we shifted from in-person classes to online classes, we were discouraged because it’s really hard to build personal, one-on-one relationships with the kids from behind a screen. One boy in particular, J, had questions about salvation, but there just wasn’t an opportunity to talk to him without all the other kids listening and watching too. We didn’t want him to be self-conscious, so we just prayed for God to work in the situation.

This past Tuesday, we started our Zoom class at 4:00 like usual and…no one logged on. We waited, and waited, but nobody came. About 4:15 we were about to give up, we heard the “ping!” that someone was there. It was J! God had answered our prayer. For some unknown reason, he was the only one that came to the club that day.

We spent about 20 minutes sharing the Wordless Book, and answering his questions. At the end of the discussion we asked if he wanted to pray to accept Jesus as Savior. He got a little shy, so we told him he could do it later in his own bedroom. He said ok, then asked if he could end the call – he wanted to go pray right then!

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That’s All I Have to Do?!

After the Bible lesson in our Good News Club each week, we have an “invitation” time, where any children with questions about the lesson can speak to a teacher one-on-one. After a lesson on Cain and Abel, 4th grader R had some serious questions. He just couldn’t understand how one brother could be so angry as to kill his own brother!

As we talked about sin I asked if any one of us could say we are perfect, without sin, never having disappointed anyone or hurt anyone’s feelings or broken a rule. Maybe we haven’t murdered our own brother, but… R said, “No! We’ve all sinned. I know I’ve done wrong things!”

He asked several more questions about forgiveness, Christ’s dying on the cross in our place, and that all we need to do is believe that He did that for us personally. With joy all over his face Rex said, “That’s it?! That’s all I have to do?!” I showed him Acts 16:31 and how “believ(ing) on the Lord Jesus Christ” is all that’s necessary to be saved.

Just at that moment another student interrupted to ask a completely irrelevant question! I was so sure this would throw off R, and he would lose focus. I quickly answered the other student, and turned back to R. To my surprise, he was quietly praying on his own.

After a minute or so, he looked at me and said, “So, now I’m saved?”
I said, “If you believe Jesus died for your sins, and is the only way to get to heaven. Is that what you were praying about?”

He grinned and nodded, and was so excited; it was absolutely contagious! I grinned right along with him, and told him that we were brother and sister now. He asked if that meant that if some little old lady who passes by on the street is also saved that she would be his sister too, and then laughed in delight!