"One, two, one, two, one two.”
 
My brother and I counted to one then two as we raced with our legs strapped together around the circle, tagging 2 other church teams out as we passed them by. We whipped around the circle and ran around our blue pin and knocked over the center pin, setting an AWANA record for the fastest three-legged race in our area. 
 
As a child AWANA made a significant impact on my life, and many of the Bible verses that I remember today are because of the countless hours I spent memorizing scripture during my time in AWANA. I have often wondered how much of an impact that AWANA continues to make. Is it still effective? Sometimes you might hear me joke about the fact that Jesus used AWANA to impact the world. But as it turns out, the joke is on me! Jesus has and does continue to use the AWANA program to impact millions of children every year. 
 
In 2020 AWANA paid an independent research firm to study more than 1000 adults 18-74 years old who attended AWANA as a kid. Participants were surveyed about their faith, vocation, finances and more. Without a doubt, clubbers engage in church more, believe more, grow more and witness more compared to the average US churchgoer! 
 
A staggering 87% of clubbers reported that AWANA provided a place for them to belong. This means that former clubbers were able to identify someone in their life who encouraged them spiritually. AWANA was also instrumental in helping former clubbers to believe. 60% reported that they made a decision to follow Christ during their time in AWANA. 86% reported that through AWANA they gained wisdom for how the Bible applies to their life. AWANA helped them to become more faithful followers of Jesus. And finally, a whopping 95% learned the importance of being a positive influence. These participants reported that a major part of their life is to serve others. These are only a tiny sample of the many overwhelming positive impacts AWANA is making for our children.
 
AWANA is a part of the tradition of our church family and it still continues to align with our mission, vision and core values. While I might tease, the reality is that so long as we continue to raise up leaders and have a passion for our children, the data supports that AWANA should continue to be our ministry of choice when it comes to discipleship. There is also a tremendous opportunity to utilize AWANA for evangelism as well, so that might be something that leaders might continue to consider to develop for our ministry's future. If you would like to see the full AWANA impact study, click here or visit the office and we would be happy to print you a copy.
 
Happy Clubbing to our AWANA participants!


Jeremiah

We have been establishing a relationship with Michel a pastor in Nogales. Two teams have gone and done short term projects for his house church. The first group did some minor construction for a community center which he hopes to use in his ministry to the people in the Colonia. The last time a group went to have conversational English with people in his community. We are hoping to send another group in March. In December he had a critical need because of health issues related to the after affects of COVID. The Global Ministry Team desired to send a monetary gift to help in his effort to plant house churches in Nogales. We sent him some financial support in December and he sent a thank-you note to our church. We wanted to pass this note on to the church to let you know how much your support is appreciated.

Dear friends,

Through these words we want to greet you hoping that you are well with your families and in
addition to greeting you with all our hearts we thank you for deciding to support us in this process that we are going through. We know how precious it is in the kingdom of God to be thankful, but we want to thank you for your love in offering that shows us how God takes care of His children. My medical recommendations are the same, rest to recover through treatment the function to 100% of my lungs and heart. We still ask for your prayers for the family and what awaits us these weeks. We will keep you informed about what we expect in 2023. We desire to continue on the path that the Lord has laid out for us to serve Him in His work of reaching those who are called to His kingdom. And we have a lot of plans for the year ahead. God willing, we will serve Him with all our might and remain faithful to His Word and will. Thank you for allowing us to share with you our feelings and for supporting us in this moment. He has blessed us so much and we still need him. May God bless you and multiply you much more.

With love, Familia Fuentes-

Hymns in History: On Saturday, February 25th at 7:00 pm, our church is hosting a concert which explores some of the fascinating history of hymns in the church.

Piano students of Lela York, including our own Calem and Rowan Flores and Isaiah Wong, will be performing the hymns in various groupings, incorporating other instruments and voices. Included in the program will be short narrations on the hymns.

Everyone is welcome to this free concert– Come and enjoy!

Any questions? Ask Josie Wong (575) 312-2531

Like the Israelites of the Exodus, in our personal ‘deserts’ we “experience intimate dependence
on God’s love and provision in faithful obedience to his every word.”
 
“With All Your Heart” by Ray Vander Laan (six sessions)
Video and Small Groups WOMEN & MEN ARE INVITED!
(view the video altogether, then split into “gender-separated” groups
 
FOR WOMEN’S GROUPS:
Meeting at FEFC—
Tuesday (Feb. 7) Evening at 6:30pm (6:15 for fellowship),
Wednesday (Feb. 8) Morning at 9:30am (9:15 for fellowship),
Thursday (Feb. 9) Afternoon at 3:30pm (3:15 for fellowship)
 
FOR MEN’S GROUPS
Tuesday (Feb. 7) Evening at 6:30pm (6:15 for fellowship)
 
Interested but not yet in a group?
See Mary Eiceman - m.eiceman@comcast.net
Or Pastor Jeremiah - jeremiah@efclascruces.org