Rene

In July of 1988, we were home to visit with Lynn's family in Ottawa, IL. We were living in Dallas at the time as Rene had just recently graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary.
Two of the women at our home church, Grace Baptist, urged George Erickson to ask us if
we would be interested in the Kids' Klubs ministry.

In August, we came back to Illinois for an interview with the Kids' Klubs Board. It was immediately evident to us that Kids' Klubs was just the ministry for us. We both had enjoyed working with children over the past few years.

On September 15, we arrived in Van Orin with our “furniture and stuff” in a rental truck. Ken and Kathy Bohm put us up for the night and the next day Brice Schultz and Kevin Hildebrand came and helped us move in. The Opening Workshop was that week on Thursday. To say we felt a bit overwhelmed is an understatement. Thankfully, Kathy Bohm and the Van Orin Gospel Church WMA had gotten the materials ready for that first workshop. The first thing we did was to begin visiting klubs so we could get a feel for what was involved in the ministry and to get to know the teachers and workers.

As we look back over our almost 20 years, it is exciting to see God's faithfulness.
We have experienced so many answers to prayer and are so grateful for God's direction. Many of our goals and dreams have been realized.

EQUIPMENT:
When we came to Kids' Klubs all we had was a typewriter that cut holes in the paper. We used the copy machines from Van Orin Gospel Church, Dover Congregational Church and Seatonville Congregational Church (Ind.) for the first couple of years. We are thankful for their generosity.

Over the years, God has provided through His people: copy machines, word processors and now computers and printers, cutting boards (including one that cuts 200 sheets at a time, laminators, file cabinets, desks, electric staplers, etc.) This past year, in honor of our 55th Anniversary, Kids' Klubs was the project for the missionary giving. The children gave generously and we are able to buy many needed items - some new and some that need to be replaced: 3 inch Button Maker for awards, replaced our worn out saddler stapler and electric staplers, purchased new Christian Flags for the klubs and new Bibles for Rally and Camp.

INTERCESSORY MINISTRY:
As you read the histories, you will notice that prayer has always been a vital part of Kids' Klubs. Several years ago, we began the “Intercessor Ministry”. God has provided us with 50+ individuals and families who pray for us weekly (many daily). Several times a year, we send them a very detailed list of “answers” and “prayer requests”. They are a real encouragement to us. We can “feel” their prayers uplifting and sustaining us. Once a year we have a MORNING OF PRAYER. Many of our prayer partners join us as we thank God for His faithfulness.

CAMP:
We have made many changes in camp over the years --

INTERVIEWS: Each year every camper has a personal interview with our Dean of Boys or Dean or Girls. We wanted each camper to know that we have a personal
interest in each of them. We see how their last school year went (if returning campers) and let them know that we have remembered them in prayer. We also talk
with them about their spiritual life and many have made decisions for Christ during
these interviews. Our interviewers are very sensitive to the spiritual needs of each
camper. Except for the first couple of years., Jim Michael has interviewed the boys and Jeanette Michael has interviewed the girls.

LOCATION: We switched camps about every 3 years - due to cost of date changes. This will be our 7th year at Streator Baptist Camp. We appreciate Larry Walters, the Camp Director. He has been very cooperative and encouraging. He and his staff want to see children reached for our Savior. It is so much easier for us to use the same camp. We know the facilities and do not have to keep changing our schedules.

STAFF: We are so thankful for our “great” staff. They continue to come year after

year. Many of them started when their children went to camp, but have continued to minister to “other children”. It is a privilege to work with them. We have become family and everyone is excited to minister again the next year.

Another change is our Teen ministry within our overnight camp (HITS - Helpers in Training). Jaimie Schrader came up with the name. She was our first HIT and our first Intern.

DAY CAMP was added our first summer. Until our move to Malden, we held it at Kids' Klubs House in Van Orin. We are so thankful to Kasbeer Community Church for currently allowing us to use their wonderful facility. We have enjoyed ministering to these young children over the past 19 summers. The young teens who helped are now HITs and counselors at overnight camp. Day Camp is on a three year cycle: HOLIDAYS, ANIMAL ADVENTURES, GOD'S WONDERFUL WORLD OF COLOR. The Bible Stories, Crafts, Gamesand other activities are all centered around the theme.

INTERN:
For the past 11 years, we have had a high school or college student “minister with us” for the summer. Those who have filled this position were: Jaimie Schrader, Heather Rosene (Dzioba), Lance Hall, Megan Bohm (served 2 years), Johnathon Eltrevoog, Jayson Tuntland, Charity Mols (Kahn), Liana Hall, Hannah Tuntland, and Emily Burke. This year our Intern will be Gabrielle Schafer. What a privilege the Lord has given us to work with these young people. It has been exciting to see them go on to serve the Lord with their lives. We continue to pray for them!

KLUBS:
Our goal was to provide materials for our teachers and workers. Most of our teachers and workers work full-time, so we wanted to help them be able to concentrate on the Bible Lesson. This past year we have tried to reorganize the materials and make it easier to use. Each klub gets a special folder for each Sword Drill age group and also a special “green bag” for each Memory Verse Group.

One major change we made was to change our curriculum to a 7 year cycle. Most of our klubbers go from Kindergarten through Sixth grade which is 7 years. Trying to cram the New Testament 4 years of lessons into 2 made it hard for our teachers to spend much time on review verses and lessons, and playing games. Our newest change is to offer the lessons on PowerPoint. 9 of klubs use them regularly and 2 or 3 others used these lessons occasionally. It has been a real challenge for us to learn PowerPoint - especially the animations which make the lessons more interesting. Many of our klubs have different versions, so the animations do not always work as planned, but we have had great feedback. It takes about 10 hours to prepare one lesson - that includes taking pictures of each figure and background and searching the Intern net for clipart.

We'd love to show you one!!

Over the years, games have been added for Memory Verse Time and Sword Drill Time, helps and visuals added for the lessons and other materials to make klub more interesting for the active kids of today. We were only able to do this because of another answer to prayer. It has been fun to find new games to introduce each year!! This year, two of our favorites were the “Remote Control” game for Memory Verse and the Which Door?” game for Sword Drill. Our biggest challenge is finding enough space to store all of these.

VOLUNTEERS!!
From the very first year, we had prayed and asked God for a few volunteers to help make the materials for the teachers and for camp. GOD HAS ANSWERED ABOVE AND BEYOND OUR EXPECTATIONS. We have 12 dedicated regular volunteers and many others who are willing to come to help us!

AWARDS!!
This was another change that many of our workers had suggested. We now have an award program. They can vary from year to year: Some of the awards are: Map, Bible Reading, learning the Old Testament or New Testament Books, Missionary, Banner, Quiet Time, Sword Drill, How to Use Your Bible, Attendance, and Memory Passage. Each year the klubs are given a visual that challenges the children to learn their verse each week. The difficult part was coming up was an inexpensive award to give for each of these. God has often given us just the right idea!!! We give out certificates, Buttons, ribbons, trophies, banners, etc. One of the benefits of the award program for us has been to get to know so many of the klubbers. Each year we visit each klub 2 times and the klubbers are encouraged to say or do their award to us.

FUN DAY:
Every other year, we hold a FUN DAY for all the klubbers. This is a great chance for them to see how many other children are involved in a klub. It also provides the teachers an opportunity to have an outing with their klubbers. We play relay games, carnival games and quiet games. There is always a great time of singing and a speaker who presents the gospel message. Klubs who cannot make our “FUN DAY” are encouraged to plan their own..

FAMILY FUN (APPRECIATION) DINNER:
Several years ago, we began having an annual Dinner for all the klub workers, camp workers, and volunteers and their FAMILIES. It has been held at Bache Chapel in Van Orin for many years and has been held at the Van Orin Gospel Church Fellowship Hall the past few years.. There are games for the whole family. We recognize our office volunteers for their many hours. Many of them are pushing 2000 hours!!!

RALLY:
As our number of klubs have grown, we have had to modify our Rally Procedure. At one time, we even served refreshments and gave out some of the award for the year. Now we only give out the Memory Award and 5 “Consecutive” year awards for Attendance, Bible Reading and the Memory Passage. The Teachers and workers are encouraged to do many of the awards, too. It has been a challenge for the some of our teachers to memorize the passage, but rewarding (as they will tell you.) This year we invited any friend of Kids' Klubs to join us in learning our memory passage of 1 Corinthians 13 - only 3 took up the challenge. We hope next year we will have more. The teachers and Board members are honored for 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and one for 30 years. One of the distinctions of Kids' Klubs workers is that they serve a long time. We are so thankful to God for their dedication to ministering to children.

Another change that has been made was to expand the number of grades and children who can participate in the Rally. There are 7 Memory Verse Competitions and 7 Sword Drill Competitions. Instead of a Klub Rally Winner, we now have “KLUB OF THE YEAR AWARD” (1st - 6th place). This is based on points the klubbers and klub have earned throughout the year. Attendance usually is 300 to 350. We even had more than 400 a couple of times.

MOVE TO MALDEN:
In February of 1994, Kids' Klubs purchased a new property in Malden, Illinois. We had out grown the house in Van Orin. There was not enough room to store the 7 years of materials and the office equipment that God was providing. The Board had been praying and looking for a couple of years when God provided our current Malden House. It had been divided into 4 rental apartments and needed some major remodeling.

Rene talked to a couple of Lynn's uncles and asked them to come and help with electrical work. Howard Eltrevoog and Glen Marten have given thousands of volunteer hours since
that day. They have both had to retire, but Kids' Klubs will continue to benefit from all of their hard work. Joe Parrot (who has now passed away) also worked for 2 or 3 years.

We are thankful for the many other individuals and church groups who have helped on this project over the past 9 years. The attic, the downstairs office area and basement are mostly complete. The living area is now half done. Our Phase 1 open house was held in the spring of 1996 and had our Phase 2 open house as part of our 50th Celebration. We are now working on the last part of the upstairs and pray that there will soon be a Phase 3 open house and the project will finally be completed!! God is Able!!!!!

KIDS' KLUBS BOARD:
Over the 55 years, Kids' Klubs has been administered by a Board that oversees the ministry. The men who have served on the Board know how important it is to reach children for Christ and help them to grow. Their concern and love for children has been encouraging to all of the Directors.

Over the 20 years that we have served as Directors, we have appreciated their ministry to us and to the children we serve. There have been several who are now “home” with their Savior: George Erickson, Joe Morris and Joe Jacobs.Others who served with us were: Bill Ultch, Tom Odell, Ken Bohm, Dennis Throneburg, Wendell Alleman, Charles Schertz and John Blickensderfer. Their input into this ministry is still being felt.

We currently have a wonderful group of men who have a real vision and love for this ministry: Robert Allen, Cliff Bohm, Roger Burke, Burton Conklin, John Cross, Brett Hall, Doug Tuntland. Please pray for them as they seek God's leading and direction for Kids' Klubs.

REACHING AND TEACHING CHILDREN:
Our ultimate purpose has always been to see children make decisions for Christ. Over the 55 years, hundreds of children have accepted Christ as Savior. We are praising God for 12 first time decisions this past klub year.

Many klubbers have recommitted their lives at klub and camp. There is no greater ministry than challenging young people to serve our wonderful Savior and to help them in their Christian walk. May the Lord continue to use Kids' Klubs to further His kingdom.