Awana Awards Night

Last week was the big finale for New Hope's first official year of Awana! Clubbers, leaders and family members all met for a hot dog feed, songs, a slide show, a presentation of the Good News...and lots of awards for kids of all ages who learned LOTS of scripture verses over the year!

The evening was led by our Awana Commander, Ashley DeForrest, and the awards were handed out by our three able directors of the various clubs: Joann Dorn, Susan Myers and Rebecca Bertolini.

This was my first time to be heavily involved in Awana, and I had a unique overview of the ministry. First of all, my two kids were involved in two of the clubs, one in Cubbies (preschool) and one in Sparks (K-2nd). Second, I led some singing for all three age groups, especially for the little ones, which was a blast! And third, for most of the year I led one of the teams in Sparks, so I had a chance to listen to my four Sparkies recite verses each week and then I cheered them on in the games that Toby Carver led. Fun! And on top of all that, we had a couple kids from our neighborhood come along for the final month or so, and I expect they'll jump back in when it starts up again in the fall!

With that kind of broad perspective, I think I am qualified to say that (1) Awana is a terrific program that really does help kids learn valuable truth from the Bible, and (2) we have an awesome group of adult leaders and helpers at New Hope who really care for these kids and make Awana a special event each week.

I've posted a few pictures below, but there are lots more in the photo gallery on our website!