Christian Education Annual Report

Christian Education Committee

2006 Report

Members of the CE Committee – Debbie Wetzig (chairman), John Wetzig, Ryan Campbell (through March 14), Mark & Sue Freudenburg, Karen Handley, Beth Root, Bill Turner, Andy & Jill Pullen MANY THANKS TO OUR CE VOLUNTEERS!

Goal of Christian Education:

To develop faith in infants through adults by solid Bible teaching and life learning experiences.

GENERAL MINISTRY EVENTS

· Josh McDowell Event, April 1 Ryan Campbell and our church staff worked hard to host the pre-McDowell event and training and then the event itself in Siskiyou County. Other area churches were also instrumental in putting this together.

· We had a booth at the Siskiyou Golden Fair again. This year, we combined with our sister Berean churches in Siskiyou County. It is an excellent testimony and an excellent exposure for our church.

· Our annual Church Camp-out was held at Lake Siskiyou September 1-4, 2006.

· Light Night was held October 31 with Pastor Andy Pullen and Jill Wetzig heading it up. Again, many people came. This event is really growing in our community; it has become the preferred spot for kids to come in Grenada.

NEW YOUTH PASTOR HIRE

Ryan Campbell resigned from the Youth Pastor position effective March 14. We hired Youth Interns for the summer (see article below), and after a careful search, we hired Andy Pullen to be our Pastor of Student Ministries. He began his ministry with us September 10, 2006 (see his report). He married Jill Wetzig on December 2, 2006 and they work together to reach students for Christ. We are grateful for God’s provision!

SUMMER YOUTH INTERNS:

For the summer months, in the absence of a youth pastor, our church hired 3 college young people to head up the area of youth. Greg Clark, Emilie Hendryx and Randy Wetzig did a superb job this summer with our youth. They had a campout for both Jr. High and High School, did many activities, ran the weekly youth groups, mentored the kids, led Worship nights, assisted with the DCLA trip. They went well beyond the “20 hours” a week that we paid them. We are grateful to God for their leadership and expertise! It was also a great experience for them as well.

NURSERY

Our nursery serves families with children ages 0-3. Karen Handley is our Nursery Coordinator and does an excellent job of keeping the nursery staffed for our worship services and Sunday School. Our priority is to provide a safe and clean environment with volunteers who will provide loving care. We realize that this is a very important ministry. Karen has a team of volunteer nursery supervisors that each take a Sunday every seven weeks. They each have several volunteers that work with them on their assigned Sunday. We are always in need of more volunteers.

SUNDAY SCHOOL

Children through 6th grade: We have an excellent “team” of teachers who are excited about working with children. 2006 Children’s Teachers: Stacey Jackson, Lois Hervieux, Sue Morris, Stacey Neitsch, Leslie Tragitt, Tom & Lesley Clark, Beth Root.

Junior High (7^th & 8^th): Debbie Wetzig.

High School: Ryan Campbell, Dave Perham, Greg Clark, Emilie Hendryx, Randy Wetzig, Andy & Jill Pullen.

Adults: Our goal has been to provide 3 elective classes for adults to choose from. We seek to offer a book of the Bible class, a practical learning class and a prayer group. Greg Ward, Orlyn Culp, Bill Turner, John Wetzig, Glenn Hervieux, Ryan Walker were our adult teachers this year. We offered “Essentials of Discipline (2 quarters), That the World May Know (2 quarters) James, Philippians, How You Can Know the Bible is True, and Prayer.

AWANA: Our spring AWANA ended on May 3. AWANA events this past year included teams participating in the AwanaGames, Spark-O-Rama and Bible Quizzing which were held for Siskiyou County churches at our facility. We also had the Grand Prix in the spring. Parents get involved in these things and hear the Gospel! AWANA began again on September 13 with 100 children ages 3 through 6^th grade. We see many spiritual results of this endeavor. Serving in 2006: Pastor John and Debbie (Commanders), Jennifer Perham, Angie Young, and Linda Martin (Club Directors.) Connie Hendryx, JT Martin, John Wetzig (Teaching Counsel Time), Jen Root (Game Leader), Kristin Sandahl (Secretary) Darlene Madden & Teri Schlumpberger (Snack Queens). Many other volunteers are leaders and listeners for the children. God is blessing this ministry!

VBS

We had an awesome week of VBS on June 19-23. Debbie Wetzig was our director this year. We used Gospel Light’s material entitled “SON Treasure Island – Where God’s Love Flows.” Our offering project was to help with the Native Bible Centre in Canada where missionaries Ed and Glenna Houston minister. They are with InterACT Missions and were here for our VBS all week. Many of our youth served at VBS along with a host of adult volunteers. Several children were saved through the week which is the best highlight of all!

CAMP: We held camp for children going into grades 4-7 on July 11-14. We again went to Indian Scotty and enjoyed it very much. 35 children came as campers. “Egyptian Adventure” was our theme and we had a lot of fun with activities surrounding the theme. We studied the life of Joseph. Mark and Sue Freudenburg were the directors and we had an incredible staff of cooks, youth counselors, Bible teachers, recreation leaders, craft leaders and skit personnel. It is encouraging that kids accept Christ at camp and grow tremendously during the week.

STORYTIME

Storytime is a very important service we provide for children ages 4 – Kindergarten during the sermon time of our worship service. Dena Culp heads up this ministry and has a rotating line-up of volunteers to minister to our small children. This is a very popular time for these children!

LIBRARY

Robin Tyhurst heads up this vital ministry. Several new books have been purchased and plans are to convert the books to the Dewey Decimal System.

MAILBOX CLUB

Kelly Campbell is now our Mailbox Club Coordinator. This correspondence course has been used over the years as an excellent independent Bible Study resource for both children and adults.

CHRISTMAS

For our Christmas program this year, the Lord led Catherine Darnall to write a script called “The One…the Desire of all Ages” We portrayed this drama on December 18 to an expectant crowd. It was done very well and incorporated all ages.

REMODEL PLANS

The Christian Education committee recommended to the church board that we remodel our old fellowship hall into a coffee shop and 2 classrooms. These plans were approved by the church board in November. The heating system will also have to be updated in this room. We will hopefully complete this by fall of 2007.

We continue to use the children’s and youth application process to secure our volunteers. It is a very helpful tool.

Submitted by Debbie Wetzig