Over the last few months a new after-school club has come into the public schools of Fayette County.

Sponsored by an organization called Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF), Good News Clubs are meeting weekly in seven of the county’s 16 elementary schools. CEF is seeking more volunteers to work in other schools and is seeking more churches to adopt schools.

A training class to open new clubs this spring is scheduled for Feb. 18 from 8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. at First Baptist, Stockbridge, at a cost of $35 per person. While Spring Hill Elementary in Fayette and Dutchtown Elementary in Henry will be opening new clubs this spring, volunteers are needed to sponsor Hood Avenue, Braelinn, Burch, Crabapple Lane, Oak Grove, Peeples, and Tyrone Elementary Schools in Fayette County as well as several schools in Henry and all of Clayton County.

Local churches team with CEF as a part of the “Adopt-a-School” program to bring high-energy hours filled with games, singing, prayer, and an evangelistic Bible lesson to school children each week.

“Churches from many denominations have risen to the opportunity to take the Word of God back into the halls of our public schools,” said Sheryl Bodrum, coordinator for the program at Sara Harp Minter Elementary School in Fayette County. “Over a five year period, the elementary school students will be led on a survey of the entire Old and New Testaments.”

CEF, an organization dedicated to evangelizing the world’s children, has been active in the United States as well as internationally for over 60 years. Bodrum was herself a member of a Good News Club near Memphis, Tenn., in the late 1960s. She says she credits this club’s influence as a vital component in her personal salvation experience as a second grade student.

Now, more than 30 years later, Bodrum is working as a volunteer with Child Evangelism Fellowship of Georgia on their strategic plan to establish Good News Clubs in every elementary school in Georgia over the next five years.

According to Bodrum, the Fayette County schools have received the clubs with open arms and some administrators are, in fact, calling to request clubs for their students. More churches are needed to meet these needs, however.

While there are 16 elementary schools in Fayette County, only seven churches have chosen to accept what Cathy Peek, state director of Child Evangelism Fellowship says she believes to be the “single greatest opportunity we have to make an impact on America’s spiritual future.”

Churches or church groups interested in adopting a school will need teams of five to eight people to attend the training and should coordinate with Rhonda Bailey, Adopt-a-School Coordinator for CEF, to choose their school.

Those interested should contact Bailey at the CEF Office, 404-788-5600.

More information is available at cefofgeorgia.com.

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