As
most of you know, on Friday nights my whole family leads an Awana Club with the
American Chinese Fellowship in Houston (ACF). (For those who are new to my blog,
Awana is a program designed to win children to Christ using Bible memorization,
games, and a Bible lesson (sometimes called Bible Story time). A Christian doctor,
working in the Houston Medical Center, started the American Chinese Fellowship,
in order to evangelize the Chinese Technicians, Doctors, and their families who
come to the Medical Center to learn new procedures. The Americans accomplish this
by inviting them to learn the English language and the American culture and the
only textbook used is the Bible.) Last
night was the first meeting of the ACF Awana Club for this school year; therefore,
we had a packed crowd with many new faces. China has sent a lot of new Doctors and
Technicians etc. to America so that they can learn new techniques and
procedures in the Houston Medical Center.
It was so packed that Kaleb and I did not have seats to sit down and eat,
and we were late arriving because we were concerned about my daughter, who is
about to have my first granddaughter any minute, so there was very little food
left. To be honest with you, I was excited
about the prospect of having all of these new people.
Well,
it went downhill from there. Because of
the sheer numbers, we did not have enough helpers. Therefore, we grouped all the kids into one
large group so we could have all the leaders focus in one area. We played games first. I got them all quieted
down, explained the game, divided them into teams, and we were ready to
go. Then it happened; a couple came out
and asked to take their children home, so we rounded them up and they
left. It took me a second to realize
what just happened. After the children
are released to go to Awana, the parents have a quick song, a little Sermon by
the Chinese pastor, and then they are released to go to English classes. When it was time for the English classes, this
couple decided that they were not going to stay to listen to the Bible. After I got the game going, one of the other
leaders and I quickly commented to each other that we had just lost an
opportunity to share Christ with this family, because I doubt they will ever
come back.
Game time finished and all of the kids had a
great time. During Bible Story time, I
tell about “David’s Mighty Men” and how they got water from the well in
Bethlehem. The kids were all into it, and
they compared it to the “Avengers”. Then
we broke up into handbook time. I worked
with two of the younger, new kids. We
got their Start Zones, which are designed to lead the child to Christ. Daniel, the youngest boy, had good English, but
Tina was older and she could read English but her pronunciation was weak. We worked until we reached the portion about
personal Salvation. I worked with Daniel
first, and asked him the questions that lead to salvation. It started out good, but He said “Oh yeah, I
know all about Jesus.” Therefore, I
asked him what he knew and he knew that Jesus had died for our sins and that he
had risen on the third day. Then he said
something that threw me for a loop. He
said that his parents had told him all about the Bible and Jesus and that it
was just a book with a lot of good stories and that is how he knew about Jesus
and that Jesus was not real. It seems
that this young man was indoctrinated against Jesus. I tried to speak to him and tell him that
there were books other than the Bible that talk about Jesus but that did not go
very far. During this time, he spoke to
the other young woman in Chinese, she answered back and he said her parents had
told her the same.
I
tell you all this for a couple of reasons.
First, I need to admit my sin, that I just ran in there with very little
prayer or prayer support. I have had my daughter and granddaughter on my mind. Also, my arrogance was showing again (this is
twice in the same month God has hit me in the head with a frying pan to get my
attention), and that I could just run in there and lead a couple of kids to
Christ.
Second,
I am asking you to be praying about ACF and the Awana kids. Pray that Daniel and Tina to return and that
they will be willing to listen and learn more.
I also ask you to pray for the couple who took their children and
left.
Third,
please pray for me to be able to say the right words to lead these children to
Christ. My biggest challenge is to take
all of the principles of apologetics I learned in seminary, and be able to put
it into terms an elementary school child can understand.
