Meet WBC AWANA Director: Tim Allen

1. How long have you been a follower of Christ?

I answered an alter call and was baptized 37 years ago.  It wasn’t until two years after that when I was in Junior High School that my family started going to church on a regular basis and started learning the Bible.

2. How long have you been a part of WBC?

6 years.

3. How long have you been the lead servant in AWANA?

3 years.

4. Why do you serve in the AWANA ministry?

Back during the summer of 2010 I would listen to announcements every Sunday morning asking for help with Awana.  At that time, I was not serving anywhere at WBC.  I had been attending worship at WBC for three years but was not serving as I should be.  The Holy Spirit worked on me for several weeks and I finally signed up to help with Awana in early August.  I had no idea what Awana was.  My Christian back ground was at churches that did not have Awana and neither of my two children went through Awana.  After I signed up, Renee Minick called and asked if we could meet to discuss Awana.  During that meeting, she said that she would like for me to take the role of Awana Commander.  She told me that she had discussed it with Bruce and Butch.  I am a shy person by nature.  I am quiet and very uncomfortable around people I don’t know.  It is well outside of my comfort zone to reach out to people I don’t know.  It was only by a hard push from God and a leap of faith that I signed up to work in a ministry where I didn’t know anyone…but be Awana Commander and lead that ministry?  Really?  That thought shoved me right off the cliff of my comfort zone.  I didn’t commit to that right away, but after a few days of prayer I jumped in with both hands and feet.  I believe when you commit to do something, you do it all the way.  I learned a lot that first year from several people who have worked in the Awana Ministry for a long time.  I went to Awana’s 2½ day long Commander College that year and learned even more of what Awana is, how to lead the people working in the ministry and how it is a multi-faceted outreach ministry to kids and their family.  I know that there is a battle going on a daily basis in this world and that Satan is doing everything he can to pull kids toward his lies and destroy families.  I serve in Awana to be part of a wonderful team of people that are committed to reaching kids with the Gospel of Jesus and to teach them the Word of God.  We strive to teach them how to use the knowledge they are learning to guide their life and to serve God.  We strive to teach these kids how to fight the enemy with that knowledge from the Bible, with prayer and the love of God and teach them they will be able to use all of this their entire life to resist temptation, to help them rely on God, and to serve Him throughout their life.  We as a church have a responsibility to teach “our kids” at WBC.  We also have a responsibility to help equip parents to be the primary spiritual leaders to these kids.  Another goal in Awana is to partner with our Awana parents and be a resource to help them raise Godly children.  Awana is a great outreach ministry with opportunities to reach families in Waxahachie.  We are a team of people that love kids and love each other.  If someone at WBC is looking for a place to serve and have fun doing it, Awana is the place to be.

5.  What is one blessing of serving in AWANA?

There is not just one. One blessing of serving in Awana is getting to know a great group of people at WBC and making close friends.  The Awana team that God has put in place is an awesome group of people.  I am just amazed on a weekly basis when I watch them work with the kids but even more so when I see them demonstrate the love that they have for the kids.  It is truly “carrying Christ’s love” on a weekly basis.  They are a committed and dedicated group of people.

Another blessing is getting to work with our student leaders.  We have several student leaders that have come up through Awana and have returned to serve in this ministry.  It is a blessing to see their example to all of us in Awana, leaders and kids alike.

I am blessed that our parents let us spend time with their kids.  What is really a blessing is when one of the kids is so excited about something and they choose you to share that excitement with.  The love of a child is one of the greatest blessings that God gives to us and that love is overflowing each Sunday night at Awana.

Meet WBC Community Group Leader: Jim Barnes

How long have you been a follower of Christ?

I grew up in the Hurst, Euless, Bedford area of the DFW Metroplex.  I was a very young boy when my parents started going back to church.  So young, I really do not recall a time when I wasn’t attending.  I was maybe 3 to 4 years old.  Even going to church, I have had my share of stepping outside of God’s will in my life.  So much, that I almost went too far and lost my family because of it.  God saw us through it and allowing us to use that dark time in our life as a ministry for other men and women.

How long have you been at WBC?

My wife, children, and I have been attending WBC for about 6 years and we absolutely love our church.

Tell us about your community group. 

Our community group started in October 2011 out as a group of 5 men and their motorcycles.  With the love of motorcycles and Christ, we combined the two and started having weekly bible studies.  From the initial 5 members, we have grown to a regular weekly bible study averaging 10-11 men from all different backgrounds and aspects on life.  The motorcycle ministry is called the ‘Brotherhood Of No Excuses’ (BONE) and has additional requirements for membership.  The weekly Bible Study that BONE holds as part of the WBC Community groups are open to any man desiring to learn, be ministered to,  or just needing fellowship with Christian men.

Currently, we meet every week on Wednesdays at my home shop off I35 and Sterrett Rd from 7:00p-9:00p with the first 30 minutes or so being dinner and fellowship.

About half of our members are members of WBC and the other half are men who have been invited, family, friends, or new to the Lord and needing Discipleship.

Our Wednesday’s consist of my wife and I providing dinner @ 7:00p (always good man food) until about 7:30p.  At 730p, we typically spend 15-20 minutes in prayer requests and prayer before we break open God’s Word.  Most often, I teach/facilitate books and chapters in the Bible, but periodically, we go through a study book as well.

Outside of weekly Bible Studies, we often meet for fellowship, food, and fun.  We have numerous rides we plan from just a few hours in a day, to 8-9 day long rides to Colorado, etc.

Can you give us one example of your group living out biblical community?

Over time, our community group has gotten close.  As the group has gotten close, new members/attenders find themselves absorbed into the group quickly.  It is our goal for people to feel comfortable and at ease. 

Regularly, we help each other out and follow closely the prescription for a biblical community as shown in Acts 2:42-47 in what I call the concept of WORD.  Worship, Outreach, Relationship, & Doctrine.

One of the many examples of how we operate can be show through a recent project we came together on.  One of our members had hip problems and it was painful for him to ride.  It was determined by his doctor that hip replacement surgery was needed.  The group got together and assisted in modifying his bike to make the riding more comfortable with new places to rest his feet and put his hands.  Our group is regularly lending a hand to each other with physical labor, emotional support, money, and most importantly, prayer.

One example of your group reaching the lost

Perhaps the greatest example of our community reaching the lost is by God moving on a man in Red Oak to ask spiritual questions after seeing my daughter giving thanks over her food while visiting at their house.  “Why aren’t my girls thankful like that?” he asked.  That opened a door for giving him God’s Word and inviting him to our Wednesday bible study.  After sitting at the bible study that Wednesday night, he came over the next day and gave his heart to Christ on my back porch.  He saw the men and listened to their stories of falling… but getting back up.  He heard them confess their struggles and how God has helped them get through it.  He saw and felt the power of God in these ordinary men and became hungry for the same thing.

What is the best thing about your group?

Perhaps there is no best thing, but a best combination of things.  Our group holds one another accountable with no condemnation, just compassion and correction.  Someone in our group has gone through what you’ve gone through.

We all realize that just by being a man, we are targets so we look out for each other and in a loving way, keep each other in line.

We realize that  “I cannot do this on my own.  I need my brothers.”  Each time we have stepped out alone, we each have failed.  God expects us to have someone to lean on when we start to stumble.  That’s what we do.

WBC Ministry Partners For May

     Jim and Lydia Munn

    

     1. Jim is teaching a evening Bible School course on The   Life of Christ.  Pray for the eleven students following      this course: that they would be motivated and equipment to explain their faith in Christ to the not-yet-saved people in their lives.

     2. For Patrick, one of the above students, who has a      degenerative nerve disease and who gets around town on buses and trams in his wheelchair.

     3. For a young couple taking the course: Aldebaran   Lopez from Mexico, and his French wife Ana.   Aldebaran    travels extensively for  work.  Please pray for his testimony in the work place, and his ability to keep up    the hard pace that is set for him.   Ana was recently      baptized,  pray for growth.

     4. For Franck, a research scientist in biology, and other believing scientists who are part of our church and work in the science and high-tech industries in Grenoble.  Pray for effectiveness as they meet for      Bible study and prayer in the “science neighborhood” of   Grenoble.

     5. For Lydia as she teaches the Junior High Sunday   School class in our church, and trains and mentors    Olivia, the wife of Sylvain, the youngest elder in our   church.

  6.  For the ministry of Sylvain and Olivia with High      School youth.

  7. Please pray for Junior Higher: Alexis, who lost his    mother to cancer about a year ago, also his older brother Sebastian and sister Coraline, (a believing    family)

  8. Pray for Junior Higher Jonathan, who has a crippling   degenerative disease, for which no cure has been found.    Pray that he will continue to trust the Lord, and that    God might heal him.

9. Jim has been teaching the course The Progress of Redemption, to only one person: Jean-Pascal. He is a    38-year-old pastor who has spent the last year or more    in Grenoble.  Pray J-P will be able to teach this course in the church he has been called to, in Montpellier, a city in the south of France.

  10. Since Jean-Pascal is leaving Grenoble, Jim needs to   teach the “Progress” course to another potential   teacher, who could take over the course in the Evening Bible School in a few years. Please pray that Jim’s vision of teaching J-P’s brother, Jean-Yves, would   become reality.

  11. Jim’s Mom and Dad are now 99 and 97 years old, and    live with us herein France. These former missionaries      are now frail and need a lot of help. We need a lot of patience, physical stamina, wisdom for the future, and for right now... more sleep!!

  12. Pray for the young French believers meeting in our    church facility for seminars on Church-planting in   France. Many French Christians in their 20's and 30's   are being led to start new churches, and are moving   towards full-time or part-time involvment.  Pray for   them as they change jobs in order to live in a town that is targeted for a new church, and join the church-   planting team as a part-time member.

  13. Every 10 days or so, a new evangelical church    starts up in France. This is not enough to meet the   target of a church for every 10,000 people, by the end of the 21st century.  At present, there is an   evangelical church for every 30,000 people in France,     (average size of these churches is closer to 50 than to    100.)

  14. Lydia has worked for two years with a group of   African women living here in France. Please pray that Florence from Cameroon would be allowed to stay here in   France and be able to contribute to the Lord’s work   here... and to the French nation!

  15 Pray for our neighbors, with whom we have a friendly   relationship but only few real opportunities to witness. One is Marie, whose grown son is being treated for a malignant brain tumor. Pray for openness on her    part, to the message of God’s love and grace.