New Missionary Brings New Dynamic to Northern California, Northern Nevada Missionary Team

“One of the first things I like to do when I visit a club is to get a group photo of the kids and the leaders.” Jeff Gilpin pulls out his smartphone as the leaders direct the kindergarten - sixth graders into a photo-fitting group. “I’ll keep their picture on my phone, to remind me of the people, of the kids.”

Awana Missionary Jeff Gilpin gets the children at
Good Shepherd Wesleyan Church Awana to
wave their hands in the air.

He takes the two default photos — one serious and one goofy. But then he requests one more, evoking ripples of laughter: “I want a photo I can share with other people, but I’m not allowed to show faces for child safety reasons. So, I want everyone to turn around and wave their hands in the air!”

The photo appears within hours on Facebook, immediately receiving three likes.

Even with the Awana Clubs International mark of silliness, Gilpin sees children’s ministry as paramount: In April, he and his wife, Judy, became the newest Awana Missionary couple on the Northern California, Northern Nevada Team, joining the Sextons and Cooks. “Children’s ministry is important because children are at the prime age to receive the gospel. I read in ‘Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions’ that children need to be reached at a younger age, because statistics show that if students are not reached by the age of fourteen, they may never receive it.”

Gilpin became involved in Awana in 2003 when he followed his 3-year-old son Ryan into Cubbies at Sierra Bible Church in Truckee, Calif.

The new missionary never sought involvement. His mind changed when he discovered helping was more practical than dropping Ryan off, driving twenty minutes back to the house, waiting thirty minutes, and driving twenty minutes back to pick Ryan up. “Next thing you know, I’m walking out with a Cubbie leader role book and DVD, and that was that.”

Today, Gilpin takes another photo to remind him of these children at another Awana club in the region he serves. He tells the kids that they can face him again, and as they turn, he pulls out a small, white and orange paperback with thin black and white letters across the cover: “My Prayer Accountability Book.” “I also like to write the names of the churches I visit into my prayer book,” he tells the kids. “There are little boxes for checkmarks next to each name, and every time I pray for the club here, I will put a check next to the name.”

Gilpin received the book from Awana’s co-founder Art Rorheim, 94, at missionary candidate school. Preprinted inside are names of the members of the Awana board of directors, the Awana missionaries in the United States, the international Awana missionaries and several blank lines with boxes for personal entries. “After Art gave me the book, he showed me his and asked, ‘If a year from now you show this to somebody you had ministry with, would you be proud of it?’ I don’t want to be the person that says ‘I’ll pray for you’ then forget about it. Now I can tell them, ‘I put you down in my prayer book, now I’m going to pray for you.” — a promise he keeps every day after his devotion.

He writes “Good Shepherd Wesleyan” on one of the lines, then sets the book and pen aside while picking up a stack of missionary photos. “Can anyone tell me what a missionary does?”

Gilpin’s role as a missionary includes visiting clubs and providing training and motivation for effectiveness and efficiency. He also helps with planning, coordinating and running regional events including Bible quizzing and games competitions. “One of my favorite things to do in Awana is to help the T&Ters study for Bible quizzing. It’s wonderful watching kids put the scripture deep into their brain and their hearts.”

Gilpin, as he continues to raise support toward full-time status, will attend missionary graduate school in October.

“The whole reason for support raising is for you to have greater faith in the Lord, because you need to rely on God for your finances. It’s more of a faith-growing exercise than a money-raising exercise. Missionary graduate school will teach us how to do the job, how to work with the missionary team, how to lay a game circle, that kind of stuff.”

But more than anything, Gilpin is establishing relationships with the churches he will be serving in Northern California and Northern Nevada. “I’m very much of a people person, and I’m a church-care missionary, so I want to be involved in the lives of the people, not just in a surfacy [sic] way, but in a deeper way. I want to be involved with the people I serve, it’s important for me to connect with them.”

For more information about Awana Clubs International, visit the Awana Homepage.
To find a club in your area visit the Club Locator.