Dear Friends,
Lois Glass and I have just finished teaching Evangelism Explosion (EE) for Kids to fourth, fifth, and sixth graders at Newark Christian School for the tenth year in a row. How I wish there had been a program like this when I was growing up so I would have been confident about how to share my faith in Jesus Christ with my friends. In this year’s sixth grade there was a young lady, Renee*, who is very special to me and I’ve included a selfie I took with her on the last day of school. Doesn’t she have a beautiful smile?
I remember so well our first encounter two years ago when she first came to our school, along with her two siblings. She walked very slowly down the hall past my music room, head down. I went out to introduce myself and find out her name and grade. Such a shy child, so shy she was hesitant to enter the classroom. I encouraged her go in and she was welcomed lovingly by Miss Watts.
She always cooperated in class, did her homework and was never a problem but she was always afraid to speak up or be noticed. In EE, there is a lot of recitation of memorized material, Bible verses, and stories. She, along with many others, was not even confident of her own salvation. By the end of fourth grade I had managed to coax a small smile out of her once in a while and she would sing, albeit softly, in music. In fifth grade, Renee had EE for the second time and now was more confident but still quite slow to volunteer. She knew the material but was still hampered by her natural shyness. The highlight of my year with her was when she asked to interview me about my “job” as a music teacher, for a class assignment. I was so proud of her because it wasn’t easy, yet she did it.
This year Renee took Kids EE for the final time and was very excited, in her own way, to do so. We make them work hard in the sixth grade year. They memorize the entire presentation and have to say it to one of us as if we didn’t know the gospel. Renee said it to me and did a wonderful job. She was confident, smiled, made eye contact and told the stories in her own words. It was hard for me not to show tears of joy as I listened.
Thank you all for supporting what we do.
Steve and Ruth Hoernig
*Name changed for privacy.